Quote Originally Posted by BananaStand View Post
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but I thought MMM's point was that the intern is receiving $12/hour in training value and is working for free. heart surgery training costs a lot more than $12/hour. So, a volunteer heart surgeon is very well compensated. That seems silly to me.

Where MMM's logic fails is that he assumes a paid employee does not need to be trained. If training the employee costs $12/hour, then it costs $12/hour. If you also have to pay the employee $10, then the function of that job actually costs you $22.
We'll have to wait for him to clarify. I thought he envisioned a scenario where an employee could pay the employer for the position since the employee would be gaining more than the employer would. It's a neat idea and could maybe work in some very unique ways, but it wouldn't be widespread.

The logic fails further when you realize that "training" is irrelevant. We're talking about unskilled labor, which means something that can be taught in less than 3 days. What internships provide is "experience", which is different, and cannot be quantified as a cost to the employer.
No labor is truly unskilled. Knowing how to speak English is a very big labor skill, for example.

There are a lot more costs to employers of new employees than just the initial training. It takes a while to find the real cost and real benefit of the employee.

I think what it specifically refers to is a competitive advantage. In other words, if Firm A can sell it's products cheaper than Firm B because Firm A employs unpaid interns, and Firm B pays it's employees, then the unpaid positions at Firm A are illegal.

the other successful challenge to unpaid internships is that they are unfair to poor people. In order to benefit from an unpaid internship, you have to be able to afford to work for free.
I get that these have been successful legal challenges. They get the economics wrong.

People who can work for pay won't work for no pay. People who can't work for pay but still want to work tend to be poor and are those who benefit the most from being able to work briefly for no pay.