Some are calling this the generation of the internship, for those recently graduating in Germany. Lately many German Internship problems have been forming with companies abusing internships as a way to find cheap labor.
Generation P.org:”According to a study of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), almost 40% of postgraduates perform internships. Half of the interviewees in the German HIS-study stated that their internship did not help them at all to get a proper job. Their tasks as interns are often equivalent to those of a normal employee, without equivalent compensation. 50% of postgraduate internships are not paid at all, according to the DGB-study. These so called internships are in fact simply regular unpaid work classified as “internships” in order to avoid paying the regular salary, benefits and associated taxes.” It seems as though companies abuse the fact that many recent graduates need a job, often one that is nearly impossible to find. Generation P’s findings that nearly 50% of internships are unpaid, even for graduates should be alarming. Companies make a large profit while graduates work for nothing.
Some charachteristics of these internships include, according to http://www.generation-praktikum.at/:
often unpaid or poorly paid: The representative HISBUS study shows that 68% of the students-internships are not paid (Krawietz et al. 2006:5) the Austrian study shows similar results, one third of all internships are not paid at all, only 15% of the interns got more than 700 euro per month (Schopf & Ringler 2007:23).
last over months: It can be assumed that obligated internships last longer (up to one half year) than volunteer internships. Another study has analysed that the average duration of postgraduates internships is six months, half of them were not paid (Grühn & Hecht 2006)!
mostly supported by their families and spend their savings to work for free: The Austrian study demonstrates that 80% of all interns were supported by their families, every second intern spent his savings (Schopf & Ringler 2007:24). There is little known who compensates the loss of income and social security. It can be assumed the nearest social area (friends and family) supports the system financially.”
In many cases, these three characteristics occur because students most likely feel they don’t have any other choice. This leads to “work experience” something that students believe will help them find a job afterwards. However, why should families bare the burdon of supporting you while you work for free? Should we not create laws against this practice?
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