Could unpaid internships become obsolete in the near future?

All young people at vocational higher schools (BHS) and most at vocational middle schools (BMS) must complete a compulsory internship as part of their training. However, recent research by the Austrian Institute for Vocational Education Research (ÖIBF) for the Chamber of Labour revealed that the conditions of these internships are not always fair. Some young people receive no contracts and no money for their work, leading the AK to call for an end to unpaid internships.

The survey conducted by ÖIBF, with 7,675 respondents, found that 14 percent of young people are not paid for their work, and for seven percent, there was only pocket money or a mixture of income and pocket money. Among BMS students, one fifth are not paid. Additionally, one in ten received no employment contract and seven percent were unclear about their terms. Only six out of ten young people were aware of their rights during the mandatory internship, and most did not receive any preparation or follow-up at school.

The study also revealed that socially disadvantaged young people reported worse conditions and more difficulties in finding internships. Depending on the type of school, compulsory internships last between four and 32 weeks, with the majority completed during the summer holidays. While working conditions were rated positively in some sectors like IT/Telecommunications and Construction/Building Services, they were deemed unfavorable in areas such as tourism and gastronomy, trade, and sales.

In response to these findings, the AK has urged the Ministry of Education to explicitly include internship requirements within the curriculum, ensure that only internships within an employment relationship are acknowledged, increase the awareness of young people about their labor rights, introduce mandatory internship salaries, make the internship search process easier, and consider converting compulsory internships into voluntary ones in certain areas.

There is a particular emphasis on improving conditions in tourism, with the AK stressing the importance of providing attractive working conditions to tackle the shortage of skilled workers. This includes no overtime, reimbursement of accommodation costs, and better planning of services. The AK also suggests creating regional and central internship exchanges to facilitate the internship search process and reduce difficulties for young people seeking internships.