Unpaid Work Experience: Meeting a Regulatory Challenge

This paper discusses the legal status in Australia, New Zealand and other countries of what appears to be a growing phenomenon: the use of unpaid ‘internships’, ‘job trials’ and other ‘work experience’ arrangements to replace what might previously have been paid entry-level jobs. Drawing upon research conducted for a study commissioned by the Australian Fair Work Ombudsman, the paper explores some of the difficulties that can arise in applying conventionally-framed labour laws to such arrangements.