Since Ryan Poser’s graduation in April 2013, he hasn’t been able to find a job. Despite having a bachelor of fine arts from York University and a graduate certificate in game art and animation from Seneca College, he can’t seem to find employment in the gaming industry.
Poser is working at an unpaid internship with a small game studio in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. in the hope of gaining enough experience and contacts to land him a paying job in his field.
“Most of the job ads I’ve been looking at so far have had a requirement of one to two years experience, which is quite frustrating and very limiting for young people like me coming out of school,” said Poser. “All I can do is get experience as an underpaid or unpaid intern.”
The Facts of Free Work
Poser’s situation is not unique. According to a recent labour report by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, unemployment in Ontario for those younger than 24 years old is at 16.5 per cent—more than twice the rate for those over 24.
According to Andrew Langille, a Toronto-based labour lawyer who specializes in youth employment, this discrepancy is largely due to the growing number of illegal unpaid internships for university students and recent graduates across Canada.
“Unpaid intern ships are clearly replacing what used to be entry-level positions,” said Langille.
“In most cases, these internships are violating the Employment Standards Act and are illegal, but the Ministry of Labour isn’t doing anything to proactively enforce laws that are meant to protect employees.”
According to Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA), six criteria have to be met for a company to legally offer an unpaid internship: the internship must have an educational purpose for the intern, the training must benefit the intern, the internship cannot benefit the employer, the intern should not expect any compensation for his or her work, and the intern should not be promised a job position in the future as incentive to work for free.
Langille said that the last of these criteria is the most problematic.
“Everyone knows that the main reason young people are willing to work for free is that they’re hoping they’ll have a job at the end,” he said.
Experience or Exploitation?
Neither Statistics Canada nor the Ministry of Labour collect data on unpaid internships, but Langille estimates that approximately 300,000 illegal unpaid internships are taking place across the country and that as many as a third of these are in Ontario alone.
“In the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, employers were looking to cut costs and a good way for them to do it was to replace paid positions with unpaid ones,” explained Langille. “Now, what that’s doing is decimating the youth labour market and driving down wages in general.”
Langille is working with the Canadian Intern Association to raise public awareness about illegal unpaid internships and to push for investigations and policy changes by the Ontario Ministry of Labour.
“We’re against illegal unpaid internships and we’re trying to improve the law and have less exploitation of interns,” Claire Seaborn, the chair of the association, said.
“We want proactive enforcement by the Ministry of Labour as opposed to just having these six criteria and hoping that companies will comply.”
The six-part test, which is based on a 1947 United States Supreme Court decision, is “totally outdated” according to Langille.
“The law doesn’t reflect the reality of the youth labour market anymore. They have to get rid of the six-part test and enshrine in statute that those in training have to be paid minimum wage,” he added.
Langille and the association are also working to get the Ministry of Labour to investigate companies that might be offering illegal internships.
“It’s really easy to do,” said Langille. “All you have to do is go on Craigslist, look who’s advertising for unpaid internships that violate the ESA and go investigate. The ministry is already well aware of the situation.”
The Canadian Intern Association has also begun a campaign called “Name & Shame” designed to bring public attention to the issue of illegal internships.
“We find companies that have advertised an illegal internship and write an article about it,” Seaborn said.
The campaign’s most recent success was when the Vancouver-based digital media company HootSuite ended its unpaid internship policy in April, as a response to one of the articles posted on the association’s website.
The Student Perspective
The Canadian Intern Association is also working to collect some of its own data on internships and to encourage student groups to take action, Seaborn said.
Last month the University of Toronto Students’ Union, which represents more than 46,000 students, called on Ontario Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi to “put an end to the practice of unpaid internships in Ontario.”
Munib Sajjad, president of the students’ union, said the union got a response from the minister’s office on May 16, that said that the ministry would work with the students and conduct investigations as appropriate.
“Many students are duped into going into an internship expecting an outcome, but, of course, the company is just benefiting from their work,” Sajjad said.
Langille said that because such a large number of internships violate ESA laws, solving the issue in the youth labour market will require a lot of work by the labour ministry and groups like the Canadian Intern Association.
Unpaid . . . But for how long?
Until data is collected, investigations are conducted, and policy changes are made, the situation for students and recent graduates like Poserremains largely the same. Unpaid internships are everywhere while paid employment is hard to come by, and it doesn’t seem to be changing quickly.
“Internships can be a valuable tool in the school-to-work transition,” said Langille.
“But the problem in the labour market right now is that we’re seeing students, recent graduates, and young workers basically being used as a tool of free labour by employers and that needs to change.”
