Over on The Big Money, Jill Priluck has written a 3 page article* (3 pages? Suzi just fainted) about the role of unpaid labor in today's marketplace. The title? Intern Nation.

From record-low unemployment to a loss of 6 million jobs since the start of the recession, the U.S. labor market is hemorrhaging. Ironically, in this climate of unprecedented mass layoffs with expectations of more, American workers are better educated than ever. And yet increasing numbers face a stark reality: nonwage work.

Welcome to Intern Nation, where postgrads pay $9,000 to work for free and serial interns build their skills in back-to-back unpaid gigs so they can one day secure a paid position with low wages that may take them years to remedy. It's a world where interns replace employees who go on maternity leave, fill in for an entire staff of let-go workers, and represent brands online in "intern jobs."

So, to recap: my non-profit (not a non-profit in the legal sense, but in the I don't actually make any money doing this sense) website can't hire an intern for the summer, but companies can lay off their entire staff and replace them with unpaid interns? Nowhere in the article does the author comment on how minimum wage laws might affect the legal status of these employees. And I doubt the the former CEOs and Wall Street bigwigs the article talks about are doing it for college credit.

If this is actually illegal, then why are there such things as unpaid job fairs? Is this an open air black market in human trafficking? Are out of work techies selling themselves into slavery? And how much does it cost for a booth?

Meanwhile on Craigslist, a mom recently tried to sell her baby. Stay classy, Craigslist!

*I almost didn't write this after I found the following paragraph in the article:

Economists say there is value in unpaid work but that wage-free labor is more costly for those with higher consumption commitments. "The fact that the wage is zero doesn't mean that compensation is zero. Usually, you gain something," said Columbia professor of economics Till von Wachter, referring to training, experience, and contacts. "The downside is that workers need to finance their living somehow."

You needed to speak to an economist for an explanation that people working for free will find it difficult to pay for shit? In other news, scientists have discovered that fire is hot.)