THREAD: Black youth are systematically disadvantaged by unpaid internships.

at the moment of graduation, Black students have an average of $7,400 more in student debt than white students. additionally, there are 1.1 million low-income Black Americans who work while also (1/6)

going to college. students from low-income backgrounds are more likely to work or intern in jobs (e.g. customer service, retail, etc) that limit their long term career goals and prevent them from expanding their professional networks.

the reality is, many Black students (2/6)

simply can’t afford to work an unpaid internship, while often at the same time, their white or more affluent peers are able to gain valuable professional experience and networks because they CAN afford it.

in 2019, out of students with paid internship experience, (3/6)

74% of them were white, while only 6% of them were Black. this gap in paid experience not only contributes to generational wealth gaps, but also signals to Black students that their work isn’t worth paying for.

companies + organizations need to understand how unpaid (4/6)

internships systemically harm Black students, and do the following:

- offer fair, paid internships
- recruit from HBCUs and non-PWIs
- commit to hiring practices and everyday workplace practices that center equity (5/6)

all in all, Black students deserve better. employers need to not only understand and admit their culpability in inequity in their workplace, but their responsibility to fight against it too.

pay interns now. (6/6)

info via http://naceweb.org !