Students, professors, columnists and social scientists are all talking about the rise of the so-called “new normal” is the unpaid internship.

Unpaid labor has always been in existence, yet, more than ever, the unpaid internship has taken a prominent position in American economic culture.  

According to the Association of Colleges and Employers, over 63 percent of the nation’s class of 2013 had an internship or “co-op” of some kind. Of those who had an internship, 48 percent worked without monetary pay.