Work experience and internships

Last week, Government Employment Minister Chris Grayling and London Mayor Boris Johnson launched a new project which will require 6,000 young Londoners, who claim Jobseeker’s Allowance and have little or no work history, to carry out 30 hours of work experience a week for a 13-week period in order to receive benefits.

Online magazine Children & Young People Now report that young people’s charities want guarantees from Government that this unpaid work experience will comprise ‘meaningful placements’.

This week we have news that interns at 20th Century Fox are suing the Hollywood studio for unpaid work carried out on the Oscar-winning film Black Swan. According to their petition, the interns were required to carry out repetitive, menial tasks with little educational value. Their claim puts the rationale of unpaid work experience and internships back in the spotlight.