Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy
Millions of young people—and increasingly some not-so-young people—now work as interns. They famously shuttle coffee in a thousand magazine offices, legislative backrooms, and Hollywood studios, but they also deliver aid in Afghanistan, map the human genome, and pick up garbage. Intern Nation is the first exposé of the exploitative world of internships. In this witty, astonishing, and serious investigative work, Ross Perlin profiles fellow interns, talks to academics and professionals about what unleashed this phenomenon, and explains why the intern boom is perverting workplace practices around the world.
The hardcover publication of this book precipitated a torrent of media coverage in the US and UK, and Perlin has added an entirely new afterword describing the growing focus on this woefully underreported story. Insightful and humorous, Intern Nation will transform the way we think about the culture of work.
Paperback, 286 pages
ISBN: 9781844678839
April 2012
$14.95 / £9.99 / $18.50CAN
Other Editions
Ebook, 288 pages
ISBN: 9781844679065
April 2012
$9.99
Hardback, 288 pages
ISBN: 9781844676866
May 2011
$22.95 / £14.99 / $28.50CAN
Reviews
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“‘Interns built the pyramids,’ the great magazine The Baffler once declared. And that was just the beginning of their labors, as Ross Perlin demonstrates in this fascinating and overdue exposé of the wage labor without wages, the resumé-building servitude, at the heart of contemporary capitalism.”
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“A book that offers landmark coverage of its topic.”
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“Perlin contends that most internships are illegal, according to the Fair Labor and Standards Act, stripping people who are employees in all but name of workers’ rights.”
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“A portrait of how white-collar work is changing ... thought-provoking and at times jaw-dropping—almost a companion volume to Naomi Klein's celebrated 2000 exposé of modern sweatshops, No Logo.”
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“A compelling investigation of a trend that threatens to destroy "what's left of the ordered world of training, hard work and fair compensation" ... Full of restrained force and wit, this is a valuable book on a subject that demands attention.”
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“[An] eye-opening, welcome exposé.”
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“This vigorous and persuasive book ... argues that the fundamental issue is the growing contingency of the global workforce.”
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“Organizations in America save $2 billion a year by not paying interns a minimum wage, writes Ross Perlin in Intern Nation.”
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“Well-researched and timely.”
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“[E]ye-opening ... The book tackles a sprawling topic with earnestness and flair.”
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“Perlin … has an eye for polemical effectiveness.”
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“A timely book addressing the exploitation of the nation's younger workforce under the guise of the 'internship model.'”
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“A serious and extremely well-written text that offers sophisticated historical material about the origins of internship and its impact on the individuals concerned, the firms that use it and the world of work more generally.”
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“Perlin’s attempt to understand internships as a symptom of wider trends in the economy ... makes the book such a fascinating read.”
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“When you are competing for jobs during a recession, the only thing worse than being exploited can be not being exploited. Yes, many internships are really crummy, but then some of them do ultimately lead to something ... which is why, when people have no access to internships at all, it makes them invisible.”
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“Perlin dissects the employment practices of some of the world’s biggest corporations, including Disney, which he accuses of replacing “well-trained, decently compensated full-timers” with an army of low-paid interns. But for employers that approach recruitment strategically, internships are typically a cost – albeit one they hope will pay off in better, happier recruits.”
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“[Perlin's] exposé on the internship model initiates a critical conversation on internships ... his thoughtful book is necessary reading for the millions of young people trying to break into the working world through internships.”
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“That fact that it took this long for someone to write this book seems as blatantly wrong as the practice itself. Perlin provides a welcome, long-overdue and much-needed argument.”
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“Perlin’s writing is engaging and the questions he raises are valid ones in an increasingly competitive job market.”
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“[A] blistering, highly entertaining attack on today’s internship culture.”
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“Cloaked in the innocent idea of the intern, aggressive employers are using young people trying to get a foothold to weaken the leverage of existing workers, especially professionals. Ross Perlin gives us an account of another subterranean strategy to undermine working people in the US.”
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“Alas, the valuable internship institution is being widely and flagrantly abused, as Ross Perlin demonstrates in this eye-opening book. A huge chunk of the American workplace has been distorted in an unhealthy way, and Perlin provides not only the diagnosis but the beginnings of a prescription.”
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“The world has been waiting for this book. It's lucky that someone as thoughtful and politically aware as Ross Perlin was there to write it.”
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“Few books have been written about the effect of internships, so this short book will be eye-opening for many. Students and parents should add it their reading lists.”
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“For critics such as Ross Perlin, author of Intern Nation, unpaid labor harms everyone in the labor market.”
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“Intern Nation provides a wide-angle overview of an international system of labor subsidization masked as career opportunity— indeed, as a de rigueur component of baccalaureate and even postgraduate degree work, without which a young person cannot hope to secure a gratifying and adequately remunerative professional career in the twenty-first century.”
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“[A] scathing look at the internship culture ...”
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“[Intern Nation] tracks how the explosion of internships in creative fields changed the entry level of many industries.”
Blog
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A Modest Proposal for John O'Brien
As Verso Books is currently looking for a Digital Marketing Manager, we read with interest the new Dalkey Archive 'job' ad—everyone from the New Yorker to Salon, the LA Times and Forbes has now weighed in, feigning surprise that people might work for no money to get into the media. Here at Verso Books, we already have a 'Personal Assistant to the Publisher' who fulfills all of John's desired qualities: working for no pay, no complaints about working overtime or weekends, no 'weddings in Rio' to attend, let alone surfing the internet, gossiping, or taking personal phone calls. She's always happy to 'meet all key authors the Press publishes, be a liaison between the Publisher and other staff, and know what the Publisher needs or wants before he does'. Meet Lola.
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Tony Blair in Two-Faced Turnaround Shocker!
Too many employers have convinced themselves that experience, plus a few quid for a sandwich and the bus fare, is an acceptable form of payment – we just never expected one of those employers to be the man who introduced the minimum wage law.
So says Tanya de Grunwald, founder of Graduate Fog, about recent revelations that Tony Blair has been staffing his offices with unpaid interns. According to the Guardian, one candidate for Blair's office had a 90-minute test before being told he was unsuitable because he was only able to commit to four days of unpaid work.
Verso author Ross Perlin was keen to draw attention to the fact that "experience" and "exploitation" seem to have the same meaning today with his book Intern Nation. In the wake of Perlin's book there has been a steady restructuring of internship rights and wages i.e. they appear to actually exist now. But the fact that former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is reported to make an annual income of £20m and who draws a public allowance and prime ministerial pension would not enforce his own wage legislation will probably not surprise everyone.
A spokesperson from HMRC has stated that they "always act on allegations of NMW abuse", while a statement from Tony Blair's office has said they value their interns "very highly".
I'm sure they do.
Visit the Guardian to read the article in full.
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The Economist calls Ross Perlin a "softie" for "fretting" about access to internships and decent jobs
In the August 4th issue of The Economist, we find this gem:Softies such as Ross Perlin, the author of “Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy”, complain that unpaid internships are exploitative. They also fret that only well-heeled youngsters can afford to work for nothing. If an internship is the first rung on the career ladder, the less affluent will never climb it.
Verso intern here, with generous post-Intern Nation wages. Of course, it's fitting for a news magazine to gloss over intern exploitation—O, to think of my comrades' gaunt, unpaid eyes as they factcheck or proofread against their self-interest—but when wholly discarding that little thing we know as class privilege, I don't know where to begin. Rent, food, and transport costs have pleasantly flown, notwithstanding the absence of personal income. Because hey, as The Economist reports, it seems you should do anything—even say, take out an intern loan, attendant with intern debt—to gain that valuable "experience:"Others disagree [with Perlin]. “Anything that gives people an opportunity to gain experience is a good thing,” shrugs Jim Tapper of Korn/Ferry Whitehead Mann, a headhunter.
Conclusions: Rent is high. Intern wages are low to nil. Now, what matter if some have more money than others? Everyone should intern because gaining experience is a good thing, as said with a shrug.
Read the full article for fun at The Economist.
Discussions
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I'm looking to start a not-for-profit clearinghouse to address this topic and welcome the input of anyone who's interested.
https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_125481824195915
