To recent graduates or students, internships are looked upon as a privilege.  To a company, interns are free labor and a risk-free trial of potential employees. With most internships being highly sought after positions, there is enough demand that interns can easily be exploited. There are also laws in place to ensure working people have their rights met, and a right is a job that pays at least minimum wage. So, why can an internship be justifiably unpaid when many interns carry the same responsibilities as employees? It is a daunting reality for a student, such as myself, that unpaid internships have become a necessity in the pursuit of a job. It seems completely unjustifiable that with the finances and power large companies have, they can merely neglect their youngest employees as if they hold no value. Unpaid internships continue to create dependent post-college grads, fostering an overall burden to society and a cycle in which those privileged with a wealthy and well connected family can further be rewarded. It seems incredibly unjust that many intern spots can be bought and advised by internal employees, such as is shown by the one in five of the 1500 interns in the office of former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. It is my hope that the workforce would applaud those who have paved their own ways through handwork, personal connections, and determination. With enormous student loans and high anxiety rates among youth, what kind of experience is an unpaid internship for any student or young adult trying to become independent? By creating an acceptance of unpaid internships, potential is being undermined. For the work force to be able to utilize young adults for free labor, what impression does this give to the future leaders about their worth and the benefits of an education?

http://www.economist.com/news/international/21615612-temporary-unregulated-and-often-unpaid-internship-has-become-route