Unpaid internships. They’re a controversial practice, and for good reason. Detractors say unpaid internships are exploitative, often without tangible benefits, and take advantage of workers competing in a poor labor market. Supporters of the practice argue that, though the employee makes no money, it offers in exchange, a chance for someone to gain experience, and a foothold into their career of choice. Sounds reasonable (Psst-not really-we think it sounds like bullshit mostly)

The big question surrounding unpaid internships is are they fair, ethical, or even legal. We chose as our clip of the week, a video that goes through some of the pro and cons of the unpaid internship market. It’s short, but evenhanded. Enjoy.

What makes a good job, a good job? The answer is subjective, right? Maybe. Most of us want to earn a good wage, like what we do, and feel supported as well as valued. However, the question of ‘what is a good job,’ does mean something different to each person.

There are over 23 million underemployed people in the U.S. Guaranteed, most of those underemployed people don’t consider their job a good one. Each one of those millions though, has an ideal job. Someplace they would rather be and work.

In this week’s clip, several people with wildly differing jobs are asked what they think makes a good job, a good one. We thought the answers were intriguing, and that’s why we chose it for our video of the week. Enjoy.

Look, we get as fatigued as everyone at the constant bombardment of disturbing news coming out of Washington. That’s why we decided to take a break from focusing on a difficult, angering social/economic issue. Instead, we thought we would use this space to remind you it’s good to step away sometimes from the soul crushing onslaught of bad news, and listen to some music that makes you happy and want to dance.

No one benefits by living in darkness and fear. It’s important to fill up your spirit with joy and love. So crush those news blues with some positive vibes. The following clip/song always makes us happy. We hope it makes you happy too.

For this week’s video, we searched for a clip accurately reflecting what it feels like to be underemployed. What it feels like to work a low paying, low skill job, day after day. What it feels like staying behind on bills, but putting in a full work week. What it feels like to work a tedious job, because you have to take the best you can get, even though you know how much more you’re capable of.

This video was recorded a few years ago by a young woman named Jia. She details her underemployment vividly. The day to day drudgery. The stress. The anxiety. The frustration. There are over 23 million people underemployed in this country. Jia is just one of them. We urge you to check this video out. It is hopeful, realistic, touching, and infuriating. Yep, all of it. Check it out.

The economy has changed dramatically over the past several years. Especially in regards to available, well paying jobs. Simply put, there are less of them, and more competition for the good jobs that need filling. Because of this fact, many middle aged adults have gone back to school to retrain for better jobs. That’s great, but they’re also getting stuck with the same onerous student loan debt that millennials are getting saddled with.

That crippling debt is hurting these older borrowers financially in a different and more severe way than younger debtors. Our clip of the week gives the details. The exorbitant cost of school is bad for students, no matter their age, and it’s bad for the country. Something needs to change before it’s too late.

Millennials, those who are now between the ages of 19-35, generally get a bad rap. They’re commonly depicted as a generation of self involved, needy, lazy, narcissists who don’t have the tools or mental fortitude to face the harsh realities that the “real” world has in store for them. They get a lot of negative attention for being the participation trophy generation, and are often maligned because they were made to feel unique and special when they were kids (As if that’s a bad thing-fuck you, critics).

The overriding feeling seems to be that millennials can’t hack it when faced with real problems or difficulties. Critics say millennials don’t know how to deal effectively with conflicts because they were never challenged. Furthermore, they argue millennials don’t have the inner strength previous generations did.

This week’s’ clip is a lightning quick interview with a 34 year old man who explains just what it is that really makes the millennial generation special and unique compared to earlier generations, and we can tell you one thing, he doesn’t mention trophies. Enjoy.

It’s hard to be optimistic if you look at current trends in employment. When new jobs appear they’re more likely to be low paying, low skilled ones, than the other way around. Just a few things that have contributed to this dire situation are globalization, automation, outsourcing, and yes, even robots. Everything on that list has had a crushing impact for millions looking for available work at decent wages.

So, am I writing all this just to depress you? No, quite the opposite. Acknowledging these facts should make you want to look for solutions. One idea that is being flouted as an answer is the “Basic Income.” What is the Basic Income? The main idea is that every living person would get a defined monthly income. That is an oversimplification of the concept, and if you haven’t already, we urge you to check out Dianna Gunn’s wonderful piece on the Basic Income. It clearly and simply explains the different ways the Basic Income would be implemented.

The Basic Income could be a way to repair the social fabric that gets torn when economic forces put people into wildly differing financial circumstances. This week’s clip gives a nice quick look at why it’s being seriously considered by multiple countries. You may be surprised who has endorsed this concept. The video will explain. Enjoy.

Happy New Year. We hope you had a nice break from work and were able to relax and recharge your batteries. We’re glad to be back ourselves. We have some new additions to the site this year we think you’re going to love. Coming soon will be a section devoted to politics in underemployment, video interviews, and the occasional vlogs from some of our regular contributors.

A quick word on our new political section. Government policies play a large part in shaping the economy. In response to this fact, the staff decided to include pieces with a political bent as part of our regular content. We don’t define ourselves as a political site or affiliate ourselves with any political party. The articles will not all lean one way or another politically. What they will be is thoughtful, passionate, and well written. We hope the political section will result in engaged and spirited commentary from our readers.

You may have also noticed our awesome new logo. We debuted it a couple weeks ago without any fanfare, but we want to point out we hired a talented underemployed designer to create it, and she did a fantastic job. We love it, and we hope you do too. If you want to hire her, do it throught this email, hireme@theunderemployedlife.com

A couple of last notes. The Underemployed Life is completely self funded. We pay all of our writers, promote their offsite work, and make sure people know who they are through paid advertising. Because we take in no revenue currently, and we didn’t want to put ads on the site, we decided to launch a merchandise store.

At our store you can get all manners of products with our logo on it. T-shirts, coffee mugs, mouse pads, and a lot of other great things. Any proceeds we get from the merchandise you buy goes directly to the running of the site. We can’t thank you enough for your support. Our quick growth is directly attributable to you, and we sincerely appreciate it.

In 2017 and beyond, The Underemployed Life is committed to bringing stories, interviews, and articles that give you reasons to keep coming back. We’re proud of the work we’ve done, and even more excited for what’s to come. With you in tow, we hope to build a community that expects more from their country than just “a job.”

And in case you thought we forgot, here’s our clip of the week.  Enjoy.

Globally, there’s been a concerted effort to use robots in place of human labor in far too many industries to list. Though automation has replaced workers throughout history, the scale it’s been happening at has never been this massive. There seems to be no end to what robots and automation can do. Ultimately, this means more robots in the workforce and less people.

Just a few questions we think are worth asking: What happens to all the people displaced by automation? What happens to societies that don’t have plans for large numbers of displaced workers? We don’t know the answers to those questions, but we think they’re worth thinking about.

The issues accompanying the replacement of human labor with nonhuman will only get larger and more complex as technology continues to evolve. We thought an overview of the subject was in order, before it’s too late. Things are moving so fast, a robot may soon replace the writers of this site. Bleep blorp indeed.

The breezy three minute plus clip we chose for this week’s column takes a ‘just the facts’ approach. The video looks at several occupations/jobs currently affected by robot replacement, and several others jobs that will soon be impacted. Is your job on their list? Can it be? Will it be? Watch the clip and you may get some answers.

New students graduate every year. We hear a lot about the debt these students are incurring to get their degrees. What we don’t hear as much about is their entry into the workforce, and the struggles they have finding decent, well paying work. A lot of people place the blame on students. Critics say it’s their fault for their poor job prospects, because they didn’t get a degree in a stable field. We think that’s a narrow view.

While some students go to college and get a degree in non traditional fields, many more go and study a discipline they thought was robust with available jobs. However, by the time they graduate, the field they planned to enter with relative ease, is now in shambles.

Just look at what’s happened to the once vaunted law degree. Getting a degree as a lawyer was once seen as a guaranteed ticket to a better life. Today, the field is in steady decline. The only guarantee a law degree will get you now is a gigantic student loan debt.

A rising population and the wholesale reduction of formerly stable jobs is changing the entire landscape of work. It’s happening fast, and is throwing chaos into many new job seekers immediate future. The clip we chose to highlight this fact is a brief trailer for a documentary called Generation Jobless. It talks about all these problems. It’s a Canadian film, but don’t be fooled, it applies to the U.S., Australia, and many other countries.