Hawaii Lawmakers Seek To Rein In Unpaid Internships …Students would largely be barred from working for free outside academic settings under a measure introduced in the state Senate.
When Michelle Kamigaki-Baron was an undergraduate student in California, she felt pressured into working as an unpaid intern to gain experience that could help her compete for jobs in the medical field.
But it came at a price.
Her mother, who lives in Hawaii, struggled financially and needed her support, so the 22-year-old had to quit her unpaid internship to work at the mall. She said she felt left behind as her friends, who came from financially stable backgrounds, took on unpaid internships.
“It’s so difficult because, no matter what, there is no balance when you come from a working-class family and you’re trying to make it into competitive fields,” Kamigaki-Baron said.
