Young workers have borne the brunt of economic hardship in the labour market since the Great Recession.

The most recent 2014 unemployment rates for under-25s in Europe and the US shows a whopping 54% unemployment rate for those under 25 in Spain, 43% in Italy, nearly 24% in France, 18% in the UK and 12% in the US.

Though these figures have in some cases improved in the last few years, persistent high unemployment has led more and more new graduates to internships as a way to get a foot in the door at companies around the globe. And in some cases, long-term internships both during and after university have become the main way to get into the workforce as a young professional. But, more concerning to some is that too many young people are moving from one internship to the next, especially in Europe. They don’t secure a regular full-time job — and sometimes aren’t paid adequately — for years.

“As youth unemployment increased… an entire generation saw internships replace a first job,” said Vincent Laurent, a member of the French watchdog Generation Precaire. “Lack of job security for young people has become a society-wide problem.”

According to a 2012 EU study, graduates in Italy and Spain are increasingly taking on one or a series of internships in the open market while looking for a job. “There’s no limit to the number of internships someone can do in Italy,” said Eleonora Voltolina, founder of the advocacy group Repubblica degli stagisti.

Even in a country like France, where what the French call stages have been a common hurdle to accessing the job market for decades, the number of internships shot up from 600,000 in 2006 to 1.6 million in 2012, according to French government statistics.

“It’s become a way for young people to gain job experience, and it shouldn’t be,” said Chaynesse Khirouni, a member of France’s lower house of parliament, the Assemblée nationale.

Working for free

What is even more worrying for young workers is that this job experience is often pro bono: a 2013 EU report found that 59% of 18- to 35-year-olds across 27 EU member states hadn’t received any financial compensation for their most recent internship.

The US has also seen a rise in unpaid internships over the past decade, according to Ross Perlin, author of Intern Nation. He estimates up to half of these are unpaid, though unlike in Europe many are part of university curricula or organised summer programmes for those still in the midst of their studies.

“Record rates of youth unemployment have been directly correlated with the rise of unpaid internships, which replace jobs and drive inequality,” Perlin said in an email. “Not only does the practice allow companies to get graduates’ skills on the cheap, it gives those who can afford to work for free an unfair advantage over their less well-off peers.”

There’s almost no way to really know how big the issue is in the US, critics contend.

“The US Department of Labor doesn’t consider internships work, and so they don’t track them,” said Eric Glatt, a member of the US grassroots pressure group Intern Labor Rights.

According to a YouGov 2014 poll, interns in the UK don’t fare much better. Some 26% of UK companies pay either nothing or only expenses for interns, typically about £500 ($744). “It can cost up to £1,000 ($1,488) per month to do an unpaid internship in London,” said Ben Lyons, co-director of Intern Aware, a UK pressure group that is pushing the government to make internships no more than four weeks. After that, said Lyons, “the intern should be considered an employee and paid at least minimum wage”.