Intern Nation

From record-low unemployment to a loss of 6 million jobs since the start of the recession, the U.S. labor market is hemorrhaging. Ironically, in this climate of unprecedented mass layoffs with expectations of more, American workers are better educated than ever. And yet increasing numbers face a stark reality: nonwage work.

With revenue-challenged employers, fewer opportunities, and even less demand, postgraduates and laid-off, mid-career professionals from Boston to Silicon Valley are hardly loafing. They conduct surveys, develop products, strategize funding, manage books, and spearhead social media branding-for free.

Welcome to Intern Nation, where postgrads pay $9,000 to work for free and serial interns build their skills in back-to-back unpaid gigs so they can one day secure a paid position with low wages that may take them years to remedy. It's a world where interns replace employees who go on maternity leave, fill in for an entire staff of let-go workers, and represent brands online in "intern jobs."

In this no-loss, maybe-gain landscape, out-of-work product developers and strategic planners armed with MBAs and engineering degrees bide their time at startups that may never receive funding. Last month, unemployed fortysomethings stood alongside millennials at an unpaid-job fair hosted by JobNob with about 300 attendees, including a past CFO, hoping for a match with one of 50 startups in need of bodies. Even ex-Wall Streeters settle for the big zero. Lawyers do, too.

Before Bust 2.0, working for free was as appealing as eating pork during a swine flu outbreak. Newly minted Ivy League graduates lined up for paid internships and got top jobs in finance, consulting, marketing, and other industries. MBAs headed from salaried summers to top jobs with hardly a ripple, and experienced workers made lateral moves as salaries rose or remained steady. Now, thanks to the economic downturn, some job seekers say they are lucky to land an unpaid position at a small company or startup where they can leverage skills while keeping a toe in the job market.

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The U.S. Department of Labor measures unpaid work as 15 hours or more of weekly labor on farms or in family businesses. But that classification doesn't tell the whole story. With the ever-narrowing pipeline of paying spots, there's still a lot of other unpaid work out there. Is it still work when it's done for free? What is its value beyond being an excuse to leave the house dressed in business casual? How long should it take to reap monetary rewards? Is it bad for one's reputation, and if someone is willing to take unpaid work, does it demean him? Or is unpaid work just another manifestation of "free is the future of business"?

CONTINUED : Non-paid work the "next big thing"

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