anyone who would be worth taking on as an unpaid intern, is worth paying minimum wage It's not the money you save by not paying the intern that is valuable to

anyone who would be worth taking on as an unpaid intern, is worth paying minimum wage It's not the money you save by not paying the intern that is valuable to the explosion of companies that want unpaid interns. The real value comes in restricting the opportunity to people of the right social class and with the right family connections to be able to subsidize your company by paying. Working unpaid costs money for commuting, for dressing up, by closing the chance to work a job for money, and other ways. Only the privileged can afford to do it. So if you want to include only the already privileged in your company, unpaid internships are the way to go. And that's also the reason they should be tightly regulated or outlawed.