The rise of intern economy . The informalization of labor and of HRM practices (original) (raw)

There is an increasing tendency around the world to hire interns, often without pay and with very little possibility of achieving a real education or a stable job. We might have met them serving our food at a global fast food chain, or we might have ordered a product home which has been packaged by one of them. Interns are a rising figure in every workplace. Despite the increasing number of internships worldwide, which has attracted the attention of journalists and activists, sociologists are still paying inadequate attention to this phenomenon and its causes. The accomplishment of praxis in an educational program, a tool to select human resources, an instrument for active policies or a necessary stage for young people to certify their skills, they are all possible answers to the question: ‘What is an internship?’. In other words, sociological analysis and empirical cases are required not only to focus on the reason behind the explosion of the intern economy, but also to build a cri...