Ross Perlin on Dylan Ratigan and CBC
Yesterday, Ross Perlin, author of Intern Nation: How To Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy, made an appearance on MSNBC's "The Dylan Ratigan Show," where he discussed the negative impact of internships on the economy and the increasingly exploitative nature of unpaid work:
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Perlin was also interviewed on the CBC's "The Current with Anna Maria Tremonti." Perlin and Tremonti discussed the recent trend of former interns bringing lawsuits against their employers, which Perlin says is a result of a forty-year boom in unpaid work that has been exacerbated since the financial crisis. This "pervasive phenomenon," as Perlin referred to it, is now "a virtual prerequisite to enter the world of white-collar work." As he explained to Tremonti, unpaid internships have become "a sort-of straw that breaks the camel's back—on top of rising tuition, on top of deepening debt that people are in, a sense of downward mobility among young people, and record levels of youth unemployment even though internships were supposed to bring jobs in their wake."
The full episode can be heard here: