Inequality in intern pay is distorting the Swiss job market

Geneva saw protests in 2019 at unpaid internships at the UN Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi

The disparity in pay and perks offered for company and NGO internships is vast in Switzerland. Some interns receive CHF3,500 ($4,360) per month while others work without salary or allowances at certain NGOs.

In an increasingly competitive job market, internships are becoming the norm at entry level, sometimes to the detriment of young people. An entire generation’s relationship to work is being defined by the lottery of either landing a lucrative position or ending up in precarious employment.

Some organisations pamper interns. Thomas Villaman is training in medical communication at a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Meyrin, near to Geneva. His monthly salary ranges from CHF2,000 to CHF3,000, plus the benefits of free meals, tea and coffee, and even access to a gym.

“I have a supervisor and a project to work on. I’m going to write a report, a short thesis for my master’s degree,” he said. His position isn’t meant to replace a permanent job, but to provide additional support.

Undelivered promises

At another organisation, the situation is radically different. Nina* is doing a six-month, unpaid internship at a Geneva-based NGO. For her, the experience quickly turned into a nightmare.

“I’m working in a place where there are no employees. All the work is done by interns. And the manager is completely absent,” she said. She finds herself shouldering a heavy workload and accumulating overtime.

She was promised training, but it never materialised. She has chosen to break the silence to “stop normalising these unpaid internships.”

Such disparities are possible because there is no federal law that regulates the remuneration of interns. Regulations are primarily defined by individual cantons or by collective labour agreements.

Job market disruption

This lack of a national pay framework puts students in a vulnerable position. In Lausanne, the Federation of Student Associations is sounding the alarm. Faced with a wave of applications that far outweighs the number of internship on offer, “employers can set whatever criteria they want,” explained a representative.

This risks creating a wage war that undermines the principle of equal opportunities. To accept a full-time, unpaid internship, students must rely on personal savings or financial support from their families.

For some observers, the problem goes beyond financial considerations. Sociologist Dominique Glaymann, an emeritus professor at the University of Évry Val d’Essonne in France, fears a “staging”, or artificial manipulation, of the job market.

According to Glaymann, the proliferation of these short-term, low-cost contracts is profoundly altering access to employment. Positions once reserved for junior employees are now systematically filled by interns.

This is a significant paradox for a measure intended to facilitate the integration of young people into the workforce.

The effectiveness of this process is also questionable. No statistical data proves that completing a series of internships increases the chances of obtaining a permanent contract.

Yet, for some start-ups, this workforce has become a cornerstone of survival. This is the case for a natural cosmetics start-up in Neuchâtel, where two interns work alongside seven employees.

The boss stands by this choice, dictated by budgetary constraints. “An intern costs on average two and a half times less than a junior employee,” said director, Paul Liurette.

Fragmented rules

Some cantons, such as the French-speaking Geneva, Neuchâtel, and Jura, have adopted laws introducing a minimum wage.

However, these laws allow for exceptions. In Geneva, for example, working for free for an international organisation remains perfectly legal.

Other cantons, such as Valais and Fribourg, have no guidelines. The canton of Vaud, however, has just accepted the principle of a minimum wage. Its specifics for internships remain to be defined.

Translated from German, sub-edited by Matthew Allen/ac

* Name changed to protect identity