I've always thought of that as the reason to take an internship/apprenticeship. They are obviously not long-term or permanent appointments. They either would result in a permanent, paid position, or would be taken to benefit from the experience after a short-term appointment, to take that and enable the person to gain permanent employment elsewhere as a result. I guess the one way it could create such a problem is if the number of apprenticeships offered dramatically increase and start to be used in place of offering possible permanent positions.
Apprenticeships here tend to be paid, but the wage is very low. Its roughly a third of the national minimum wage. The wage may be structured in such a way that it is designed to be of a similar amount that same person would be receiving in unemployment benefits. I don't know.
One thing that really annoys me is not apprenticeships or internships but unpaid work placements in the UK for Job Seekers Allowance benefits claimants. Introduced by our government, it basically makes it compulsory for a claimant to accept a period of unpaid employment should they be "offered" it. You don't receive a wage, but you are forced to take it with the threat of having your benefits ceased if you refuse.
The government will tell you that the "employee" gains employability and workplace skills, the opportunity to keep up to date with skills relevant to their job search, and will ask what the harm is in asking people to work for their benefits money, especially when there may even be a job opportunity at the end of their placement. To some, on one hand, this probably sounds reasonable and maybe even a good idea. If only it actually worked this way.
In reality, the Job Centre are working with "partners", employers willing to accept claimants for unpaid positions, and are probably commended for "helping" those searching for work in a bleak, dry climate. The people filling these positions will go to work, for free, and quite often be motivated by that possibility that this employer just may have a permanent contract for them at the end of their "trial", only to milk them for all they are worth before finally pulling the rug from under them at the end, sending the "employee" back to the Job Centre, and using the next person they send them for another few weeks or a months of free labour instead of actually hiring someone they would need to pay. Unfortunately, I know a handful of people who this has happened to, exactly, and also in my last job I worked indirectly with JSA claimants, a few of which also told me the same story.
The last person I know that this happened to had a placement for eight weeks, ending in around November of last year. They were told at the very start that they would be holding interviews for that position towards the end of their placement and urged them to apply. They did apply, they interviewed, and then were told that not only did they not get it, they were also not appointing anybody as they couldn't afford to hire someone. So she didnt get a job out of it, she didn't make any money, and had basically spent eight hours a day, five days a week THERE when instead she could have been using that time to search and apply for jobs.
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