Either the interns are there to learn (In which case, they should not be working on anything that provides the employer with value) - or they are employees. If your business can't afford to pay its employees, you should probably not be in business.
I feel pretty strongly about the exploitation of free labor, but I'm not sure I agree with this point. Tasks from which a potential intern may learn the most are quite likely to be tasks which create value for the employer.
I'm not even sure what work an intern could possibly do that did not generate value for a team, other than literally digging a ditch and re-filling it.
> If your business can't afford to pay its employees, you should probably not be in business.
Money isn't the only way to pay employees. A learning experience can be just as valuable (if not more so) than some financial compensation. This is highly situational, and can easily be used as justification to get cheap unpaid labor, but nonetheless remains true.
Sounds plausible to me, along with your point about learning experience, but the comment you're responding to is just reflecting American federal labor law.
According to the feds, paid internships can only be for the benefit of the intern, not the employer - if you're gaining from it, you're breaking the law.
How about this idea: let people offer unpaid internships, and let potential employees willingly decide for themselves, based on their own circumstances and free will, whether or not to take them. I don't see any harm in two human's voluntary reaching an internship agreement if they both benefit from it.
But doing an unpaid internship necessarily demands an external source of money to cover living expenses. So there are many people who would in theory be happy to do an unpaid internship but are unable to do so practically.
Indeed. However, there are yet others who would benefit and can do so practically. The fact that they exist and positions get filled means people are getting experience and making ends meet. By forcing the minimum wage on these internships, they don't reappear with a higher wage, most of them simply disappear. The opportunity is totally lost.
An opportunity that is only realistically available to those from more affluent backgrounds (who already have a bunch more advantages) actually translates into a disadvantage for those who are unable to take them, so it is somewhat a zero sum game.
Especially if they become a defacto requirement for the best jobs in some sectors.