Paid, unpaid and 'hidden' internships at six months after graduation: are some graduates excluded?

The role that graduate internships play in social mobility and/or socio-economic reproduction is asubject of considerable debate. There isa dearth, however, of reliable quantitative evidence on the extent to which participation in internships is moulded by social class. Not least because of difficulties identifying and quantifying internships in statutorysurveys. Building on previous research (Hunt and Scott, 2018a) this paper examines the extent to which graduates from different backgrounds engagein paid, unpaid and ‘hidden’ internships (i.e. those reported as ‘voluntary’ jobs) soon after graduation. In doing so the research contributes to debates aboutwhether those from lower socio-economic groups are disadvantaged in accessing internships and,consequently,in the scramble for graduate jobs.