Interns at Facebook, Google Out-Earn the Average American (axios.com)

Alayna Treene, writing for Axios: Long gone are the days of unpaid internships, at least at these 25 companies who are paying interns more than what the average American earns. Tech and finance interns in particular -- including at Google, Bloomberg, BlackRock, and Facebook -- earn more per month than the average American, according to data released by Glassdoor Tuesday.

Comments

They make the *median* income of SV

[garcia]

There are plenty of fields where employees, interns or otherwise, outpace the salaries of the vast majority of Americans; however, put into context, interns at companies based in Silicon Valley are making just about the median income for the area and about 1/3 above the Californian median.

I am not sure what this is supposed to tell us, honestly. Companies wanting to attract top talent need to pay decent wages. Clearly the marketplace is competitive, even pre-graduation, especially for those coming out of top-tier schools with advanced degrees.

I mean, it's very nice that everyone wants to have income equality; however, let's dispel with the notion it's going to happen anytime soon and move along.

Re:They make the *median* income of SV

[ShanghaiBill]

I think it just brings attention to how insane and dysfunctional California is.

Median income in California is well above the national level. Rising housing prices are actually a benefit if you already own your house, as most people do.

It also begs the question ...

No it doesn't. It raises the question. Begging the question means something completely different.

... why the hell would anyone want to live like that.

1. High salaries that more than offset the high housing cost.
2. Making even more money as your house appreciates.
3. The best public schools in the country are in Silicon Valley
4. Lots of very interesting work

Seriously...

[mongothesecond]

And some of these interns have masters degrees or better.

outcome vs opportunity

[magarity]

The article's main point seems to be complaining about income inequality in general which is a complaint of equality of outcomes. Focusing on outcomes never seems to work. The war on poverty has killed too many poor people. More focus on opportunity and let people work out their own outcomes.

Re:outcome vs opportunity

[swillden]

So the one explanation is that such jobs exist but people choose welfare instead. The other explanation is that such jobs don't exist - well at least not enough for everyone.

A third explanation is the one the GP alluded to: such jobs exist, but not locally. Because welfare is (barely) good enough and moving seems like such a risky endeavor, people stay put and get by on welfare.

Re:This is why they need H1b

[ShanghaiBill]

Internships are really extended multi-month job interviews. That is how my company sees them, and that is how interns should see them. We never offer an internship to someone that we would not want to hire as a permanent employee. After graduation, we offer jobs to about 60% of our former interns, and most of them accept. We make NO job offers to any other graduates.

So the competition for the best interns is really a competition for the best future employees. The competition is fierce, and the best students usually have multiple internship offers.

Students that don't intern, and expect to just magically find a job after they graduate, are idiots.

Re:This is why they need H1b

[Serge_Tomiko]

Students that don't intern, and expect to just magically find a job after they graduate, are idiots.

I wouldn't call them idiots necessarily. Depending upon the circumstances, some students just don't know. I'm old enough to have been from the age when college was still seen as a place for learning rather than a trade school. I had to work crap jobs during college, and was only vaguely aware that well-paying internships even existed. Or at least, they were for kids with better grades than myself.

All that said, I know some college students who are doing much better these days. The pressure seems positively enormous. I really feel for these kids today.

ACA says you're wrong

[rsilvergun]

when poor people had access to health care due to the medicaid expansion they used it.

That "Cycle of Poverty" bullshit you're spouting comes from right wing "Think Tanks" set up to justify abandoning the poor. If you track back who's telling you that and look at who belongs to those tanks you'll find industry lobbyists all the way down.

People moving around out of desperation isn't how you end poverty. It's how you shuffle the poor around. And you have no idea how bad things were before the Great Society. Or you're actively choosing to ignore it. Or those "Think Tanks" are doing it for you. The outcomes the same.

Poverty ends first with food. Women need food while their kids are gestating so those kids don't have mental problems. It goes on to clean, lead free air & water. Again, prevent mental problems. Next is education. Lots of it. All the way to college. That won't stop poverty, since we're running out of work (Automation & productivity increases for the win) but it will create a population smart enough to solve those problems. All that takes money, and if you think the 1% is going to pay for it by choice you haven't been paying attention to the last 1000 years of human civiliazion.

People aren't starving because of food stamps and other welfare programs. Those programs are mostly allowed to exists because agribusiness lobbies for them. But even they've been losing to the "Cut my Taxes" lobby.

At the end of the day everything you wrote is something you're telling yourself to feel better about cutting your taxes while abandoning the poor. I sincerely hope you're better than that, will realize what you're doing and stop it. Keep in mind, when the 1%ers are done with the poor, you're next.