Page 16 - State of the Internship NoSeal
P. 16
Students’ Input on Fair Hourly Wage Averages to $12.45
The survey probed into the amount students believe constitutes a fair hourly wage. Amounts ranged
from zero to $80 an hour and included descriptions such as 1.2 or 1.5 times the minimum wage. Some
also noted that a fair amount would depend on responsibilities.
With 6,866 students providing input into dollar amounts, the hourly wage considered fair averages
$12.45, with a median of $11.00.
Averages differ widely across gender, regions, year in school, etc.
• Male students: $14.00 • Career-oriented majors: $12.98
• Female students: $11.15 • Academic-oriented majors: $10.64
• First/second year students: $11.35 • State college: $12.59
• Juniors: $12.00 • Community college: $11.43
• Seniors: $11.63 • Private college: $12.42
• Grad students: $15.15
Pay and hourly wage levels are an important part of internship negotiations. Recently, some interns
have filed lawsuits against companies where they were doing internships because they were unpaid
and felt exploited. The survey probed into students’ opinions of these lawsuits: 29.4 percent feel that
these interns were right in suing. The remaining 70.6 percent believe the interns should have just
terminated the assignment if they were unhappy with the conditions.
Students in academic programs are more likely to believe the students were right to sue, at 35.6
percent, as do students attending college in the Northeast (32.6 percent) and West (30.3 percent) and
those who have already completed at least one internship, at 32.0 percent.
© InternMatch | State of Internships 2014 Page | 16
The survey probed into the amount students believe constitutes a fair hourly wage. Amounts ranged
from zero to $80 an hour and included descriptions such as 1.2 or 1.5 times the minimum wage. Some
also noted that a fair amount would depend on responsibilities.
With 6,866 students providing input into dollar amounts, the hourly wage considered fair averages
$12.45, with a median of $11.00.
Averages differ widely across gender, regions, year in school, etc.
• Male students: $14.00 • Career-oriented majors: $12.98
• Female students: $11.15 • Academic-oriented majors: $10.64
• First/second year students: $11.35 • State college: $12.59
• Juniors: $12.00 • Community college: $11.43
• Seniors: $11.63 • Private college: $12.42
• Grad students: $15.15
Pay and hourly wage levels are an important part of internship negotiations. Recently, some interns
have filed lawsuits against companies where they were doing internships because they were unpaid
and felt exploited. The survey probed into students’ opinions of these lawsuits: 29.4 percent feel that
these interns were right in suing. The remaining 70.6 percent believe the interns should have just
terminated the assignment if they were unhappy with the conditions.
Students in academic programs are more likely to believe the students were right to sue, at 35.6
percent, as do students attending college in the Northeast (32.6 percent) and West (30.3 percent) and
those who have already completed at least one internship, at 32.0 percent.
© InternMatch | State of Internships 2014 Page | 16
