The same day the White House renewed a push to increase the federal minimum wage, an announcement appeared on the White House blog for the Summer 2015 White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders [AAPI] Internship Program — all unpaid positions. Even in prior administrations, internships at the White House were unpaid. While rancor over President Obama’s $10.10 minimum wage proposal and his continuation of unpaid internships is nothing new, Monday’s incongruous pairing of the two issues by the White House may rekindle the controversy.
The minimum wage proposal reappeared Monday on the White House Twitter account. The tweet notes that a number of businesses and states have raised their minimum wage rates, but also calls on Congress to compel all of the nation’s businesses to comply with a new minimum:
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 23, 2015
Later in the day, an announcement regarding internships was posted at WhiteHouse.gov: “Calling All Students: Apply for the Summer 2015 White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Internship Program.” The announcement provides details of the program, the purpose of which includes “efforts to improve the quality of life of underserved AAPIs through increased participation in federal programs,” but nothing regarding compensation. Only after a prospective intern clicks on another link for more information does the following appear at the very end of the description: “All internship positions at the Initiative are unpaid.”
Elsewhere on the White House website, prospective interns are informed that all White House internships are unpaid. Recognizing the hardship this may pose, applicants are encouraged to look to “educations institutions” or “non-profit organizations” for “assistance” with “income, funding or housing assistance”:
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Despite the lack of monetary compensation for White House interns, the Obama administration has noted the value of paid internships in the past. In a September 2013 White House blog entry by Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, the two secretaries related details of a discussion they conducted in Maryland with business, education, labor, and government leaders. They said that they “heard about the need for additional paid internship opportunities and better matchmaking between students and employers to help those just entering the workforce get a feel for careers they may not have thought about before.”
In recent years, courts have ruled against some businesses for violating wage rules with unpaid internships, but so far the rulings have not been applied in government settings. In 2013, an organization called The Fair Pay Campaign attracted some attention to the issue of unpaid White House internships, as USA Today reported, but the practice continues.
