Employment Policy Department EMPLOYMENT Working Paper No. 240 2018 The regulation of internships: A comparative study Andrew Stewart Rosemary Owens Anne Hewitt Irene Nikoloudakis Employment and Labour Market Policies Branch EMPLOYMENT Employment Policy Department EMPLOYMENT Working Paper No. 240 2018 The regulation of internships: A comparative study Andrew Stewart, Rosemary Owens, Anne Hewitt and Irene Nikoloudakis Adelaide Law School, The University of Adelaide INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE – GENEVA Copyright © International Labour Organization 2018 Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to the Publications Bureau (Rights and Permissions), International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland. The International Labour Office welcomes such applications. Libraries, institutions and other users registered in the United Kingdom with the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP [Fax: (+44) (0)20 7631 5500; email: [email protected]], in the United States with the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923 [Fax: (+1) (978) 750 4470; email: [email protected]] or in other countries with associated Reproduction Rights Organizations, may make photocopies in accordance with the licences issued to them for this purpose. ISSN 1999-2939 (print); 1999-2947 (.pdf web). First published 2018 The designations employed in ILO publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Labour Office concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles, studies and other contributions rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the International Labour Office of the opinions expressed in them. Reference to names of firms and commercial products and processes does not imply their endorsement by the International Labour Office, and any failure to mention a particular firm, commercial product or process is not a sign of disapproval. ILO publications can be obtained through major booksellers or ILO local offices in many countries, or direct from ILO Publications, International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland. Catalogues or lists of new publications are available free of charge from the above address, or by email: [email protected] Visit our website: www.ilo.org/publns Printed by the International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland Preface The primary goal of the ILO is to work with member States towards achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all. This goal is elaborated in the ILO Declaration 2008 on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization, which has been widely adopted by the international community. Comprehensive and integrated perspectives to achieve this goal are embedded in the Employment Policy Convention of 1964 (No. 122), the Global Employment Agenda (2003) and – in response to the 2008 global economic crisis – the Global Jobs Pact (2009) and the conclusions of the Recurrent Discussion Reports on Employment (2010 and 2014). The Employment Policy Department (EMPLOYMENT) is engaged in global advocacy and in supporting member States in placing more and better jobs at the centre of economic and social policies and growth and development strategies. Policy research and knowledge generation and dissemination are essential components of the Employment Policy Department’s activities. The resulting publications include books, country policy reviews, policy and research briefs, and working papers. The Employment Policy Working Paper series is designed to disseminate the main findings of research on a broad range of topics undertaken by the branches of the Department. The working papers are intended to encourage the exchange of ideas and to stimulate debate. The views expressed within them are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the ILO. Sangheon Lee Director Employment Policy Department EMPLOYMENT Working Paper No. 240 iii Foreword Across the globe, young women and men are making an important contribution as productive workers, entrepreneurs, consumers, citizens, members of society and agents of change. All too often, the full potential of young people is not realized because they do not have access to productive and decent jobs. Although they are an asset, many young people face high levels of economic and social uncertainty. A difficult transition into the world of work has long-lasting consequences not only for youth but also for their families and communities. The International Labour Office has long been active in youth employment, through its normative action and technical assistance to member States. One of the means of action of its Youth Employment Programme revolves around building and disseminating knowledge on emerging issues and innovative approaches. In 2012, the International Labour Conference issued a resolution with a call for action to tackle the unprecedented youth employment crisis through a set of policy measures. The resolution provides guiding principles and a package of inter-related policies for countries wanting to take immediate and targeted action to address the crisis of youth labour markets. This paper is part of follow-up action on knowledge building co-ordinated by Niall O’Higgins of the ILO’s Youth Employment Programme (YEP). It is one of three analyses of internship and work-based learning developed in collaboration with the SKILLS branch and the LABOURLAW unit of the ILO. Together with apprenticeships and temporary jobs, internships (or traineeships as they are often called in Europe) have become an important part of the transition from education to employment, especially in higher-income countries. Concerns have been expressed in recent years about the role of internships in serving as an effective bridge between education and (paid) work. The 2012 call for action noted that: internships, apprenticeships, and other work experience schemes have increased as ways to obtain decent work. However, such mechanisms can run the risk, in some cases, of being used as a way of obtaining cheap labour or replacing existing workers. Against that background, and in particular the ILO’s commitment to promote decent work for young people, the objectives of this report are: to explain the different forms that internships may take and what is known about their prevalence; to discuss the extent to which different institutional arrangements and design features of internships are conducive to the integration of young people into longer term stable employment; to provide a comparative overview of the regulation of internships in selected countries, including a consideration of the extent to which interns are recognized and protected under both labour and social security laws; and to the extent possible, to discuss the appropriateness and effectiveness of particular regulatory strategies. EMPLOYMENT Working Paper No. 240 v The current paper was undertaken conjointly with the LABOURLAW Unit of the GOVERNANCE department under the guidance of Colin Fenwick. The paper was authored by Andrew Stewart, Rosemary Owens, Anne Hewitt and Irene Nikoloudakis of the University of Adelaide. The authors are grateful to Joanna Vincent and Christian Werthmüller for their research assistance, to João Fernandes of the Rio de Janeiro Regional Labor Court for information on Brazil, to Paula McDonald, Damian Oliver and Joanna Howe for their involvement in related projects, and to Niall O’Higgins, Yoshie Noguchi and colleagues at the ILO for their helpful input as well as to the comments provided by participants at the 2017 Regulating for Decent Work Conference held in the ILO, Geneva in July 2017. The authors acknowledge that this report also draws upon research undertaken as part of an Australian Research Council funded project, ‘Work Experience: Labour Law at the Intersection of Work and Education’ (DP #150104516). The report is based on information and literature collected upto October 2017. Kamran Fannizadeh Director, a.i. Governance and Tripartism Department vi FINAL MD WP240.docx Contents Page Preface ............................................................................................................................................ iii Foreword ......................................................................................................................................... v Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................. ix Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................... xi 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 2. Context ........................................................................................................................................ 5 2.1 Youth in education and employment .............................................................................