Young people from working-class or disadvantaged backgrounds are being “locked out” of careers by unpaid or low-paid internships that benefit middle-class graduates, according to a social mobility charity.
Research by the Sutton Trust found that middle-class graduates made more use of internships as stepping stones into sectors such as finance or IT, even in cases where the internships paid nothing or below the minimum wage as required by legislation.
Nick Harrison, the chief executive of the Sutton Trust, said: “Internships are an increasingly critical route into the best jobs, and it’s shocking that in this day and age, many employers still pay interns below the minimum wage, or worse, nothing at all. They should be ashamed.
“The government has pledged to ban unpaid internships, which is absolutely the right thing to do. Clearly not all young people can get support from the ‘bank of Mum and Dad’, so banning this outdated practice will help to level the playing field for these valuable opportunities. It’s a no-brainer and should be implemented without delay.”
A survey of 1,200 recent graduates commissioned by the trust revealed that 55% of middle-class young people had undertaken internships, compared with just 36% from working-class families – and that the gap between the two groups had widened “substantially” since its previous survey in 2018, from 12 to 19 percentage points.
Unpaid or underpaid internships had persisted in spite of law changes since 2018, making up 61% of those on offer and forcing interns to “subsidise themselves during their placements, which locks many of those who can’t afford it out of these vital opportunities”, the trust said.
Graduates taking unpaid internships said they received money from parents, lived with family or friends, or relied on savings.
Real-estate employers were the most likely to offer low or no pay for interns, followed by the construction, IT, finance and legal sectors. The retail sector was the most likely to at least pay minimum wages, followed by media, marketing and advertising companies.
The Sutton Trust wants unpaid internships lasting four weeks or longer to be banned, alongside enforcement of current minimum wage legislation. It said it had found no evidence of companies or organisations being prosecuted for failing to pay interns as required.
A survey by YouGov commissioned by the Sutton Trust showed 38% of employers in Great Britain said they would like unpaid internships to be banned, and a further 30% wanted better enforcement of minimum wage legislation.
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“As well as paying interns properly, there’s also a whole lot more that employers must do to make sure they’re accessing a wider pool of talent,” Harrison said. The trust also wants all internship positions to be publicly advertised, “so all young people can find and apply for opportunities”.
Graduates who knew at least one person in a professional occupation were nearly twice as likely to have had an internship compared with those with no connections.
Only 40% of those who went to state schools had done an internship, while 71% of those who attended private schools did so.
Source: theguardian.com
