There has been a bit of a storm over the Government's work experience scheme. With the now traditional lack of perspective the Left have branded it "forced labour" and "21st Century slavery", never knowingly understated!
The scheme is to encourage people on unemployment benefit to take up a few weeks of unpaid work experience. The attacks have been cheer-led by the BBC and Guardian who Chris Grayling has rightly branded hypocrites and work snobs, as both these organisations have schemes where young people have a few weeks of unpaid work experience.
There is nothing new about companies offering unpaid work experience, it gives people a chance to get something on their CV, a reference and chance to see if they like the job. It gives organisations a low risk chance to asses potential employees and to get some work done. A win-win situation.
In the past this has been an option denied to the unemployed on jobseeker's allowance because even unpaid work would mean that their benefits would stop. Can't get experience without losing benefits, can't get a job without experience, a classic Catch 22 situation.
The government's plan is to allow job-seekers to get experience without losing their benefit. At the BBC, the Guardian, etc. youngsters are supported by their parents while working for free to get experience, under this scheme youngsters are supported by the state to do exactly the same thing. I'm genuinely at a loss as to why the Left are so against it.
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No need to be 'genuinely at a loss', James, there's someone on your Facebook page explaining it to you.
I couldn't agree with you more - paid internships effectively create more jobs but keep those people who are not qualified or experienced enough to get those jobs out in the cold. There is less competition for unpaid internships, thus giving people with less experience a fighting chance. It's better to be on benefits while building up your CV than to constantly live in fear of remaining on benefits indefinitely.
Claire, from where do you find this fact ('there is less competition for unpaid internships'). In New York, for instance, many internships in low-level media jobs are unpaid and as a result can be taken on only by those who don't need money, who are already well-off and doing it as a sort of extra hobby. This is not a small proportion of people - the reason these internships can exist without pay is that so many people apply for them. But they're not poor people.
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