John Stossel on Washington's War on Young Workers
The Obama Labor Department has issued a fact sheet that says free internships are only legal if the employer derives "no immediate advantage" from the intern.The bureaucrats say they will crack down on companies that don't pay, but that's a terrible thing to do. Unpaid internships are great, writes John Stossel. They are win-win. They let young people experiment with careers, and figure out what they'd like and what they're good at. They help employers produce better things and recruit new employees.
Polls show that Americans support raising the minimum wage. Most probably also support limits on unpaid internships. American politicians think they "protect" workers by limiting employers' (and workers') choices and giving handouts to the unemployed. They're wrong.
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