This question is about internship statistics.

Are unpaid internships legal?

By Zippia Team - Feb. 14, 2022

Yes, unpaid internships are legal, but only if certain criteria are met by the employer. Unpaid internships in the government and nonprofit sectors are completely legal. However, it gets muddy when for-profit companies offer unpaid training positions.

In such cases, profiting businesses can only offer unpaid internships if they can prove that the internship benefits the intern more than it benefits the company -- this is most often done by offering the intern college credit for the successful completion of the internship.

The topic of unpaid internships is a grey area, but if you're working for a private company and not receiving any college credit, you should almost certainly be getting paid.

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