Nearly two years ago, in April 2010, the U.S. Department of Labor issued new “guidance” (an inside-the-Beltway term for “do this…or else“) governing for-profit companies’ use of unpaid interns who receive academic credit for their work experience. Recall the Grey Lady’s report from that time:
The Labor Department says it is cracking down on firms that fail to pay interns properly and expanding efforts to educate companies, colleges and students on the law regarding internships.
“If you’re a for-profit employer or you want to pursue an internship with a for-profit employer, there aren’t going to be many circumstances where you can have an internship and not be paid and still be in compliance with the law,” said Nancy J. Leppink, the acting director of the department’s wage and hour division.
Ms. Leppink said many employers failed to pay even though their internships did not comply with the six federal legal criteria that must be satisfied for internships to be unpaid. Among those criteria are that the internship should be similar to the training given in a vocational school or academic institution, that the intern does not displace regular paid workers and that the employer “derives no immediate advantage” from the intern’s activities — in other words, it’s largely a benevolent contribution to the intern.
Fast-forward to last week, when the Obama White House unveiled a summer jobs initiative for young people, part of the “We Can’t Wait” campaign:
Obama says that with young people facing record unemployment the government must do everything it can to make sure they have opportunities to learn skills and a work ethic.
The summer jobs plan is to be announced Thursday. It’s the administration’s latest “We Can’t Wait” initiative to go around Congress. Many of the positions would be unpaid training opportunities.
Got that? It’s not okay when for-profit companies train students (a.k.a. young voters) with practical, on-the-job experience (and reward them with academic credit!) without pay, but it’s totally okay when the government sponsors a hiring program, through which young people still receive…no pay.
This is a thinly-veiled attempt to create a mindset that young people need government to give them a leg up on life — another front in Obama’s war on the private sector, driven by the insane notion that “we’re all in this together” and that private sector outfits should “give something back” to the American people.
