Washington D.C. – Today, the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) released a new analysis showing that at least 95 percent of U.S. House and Senate cosponsors of recently introduced $15 federal minimum wage legislation hire interns who earn no wage at all. In total, 174 of the 184 “Raise the Wage Act” cosponsors and primary sponsors hire unpaid interns.
You can find our ad in The Hill here, along with a shareable infographic here.
All intern data was collected via the official websites of Senators and Representatives or via calls with staff members. Offices which paid either an hourly wage, a flat stipend, or travel/housing stipends were counted as paying their interns, even if they still offered unpaid internships. In this sense, our conclusions above are conservative. Contacts with each primary sponsor and respective cosponsors were made between June 6th and June 8th 2017. Variation in the final tally could occur as cosponsors may be added after this time period. The tallies are rounded to the nearest whole number.
For more information, visit EPIOnline.org. To schedule an interview, contact Sean Kumnick at (202) 463-7650 or kumnick@epionline.org.