Over the past few years unpaid internships (UI) have exploded in number due to the state of the economy and industry trends. For several reasons unpaid internships are both unethical and bad for the economic well-being of the US:
1) Most UI offered by companies don't live up to the Department of Labor's requirements for UI
2) UI increases social stratification since only well-off families can afford to work for free
3) UI undermines the employment rate since they take away paid positions
4) UI depresses wages of workers due to the glut of free labor
5) If a student accepts UI for academic credit and they use grants or loans from the govt. to go to school, the US taxpayers are subsidizing that corporation's employment costs
It is time for the govt. to crack down on this labor abuse.