The Coalition say they have improved the economy. They were left with a legacy of debt and borrowing and yada yada yada - the long and short of it is that people have to work to live and a lot of the time, young people going into certain industries are expected by companies to work for free as interns, which means that only the children of better-off families can make it into, say, politics, or the media. Even if you never had the hurdle of an internship, there are problems with jobs - such as companies using zero-hour contracts or simply not paying enough money for people to get by. Did you know that at present, 6.5 million people want to work more and since 2003, 50% more families are claiming working tax credits (this is when people work but they don't make enough money from that work so need benefits to make up the difference)? To make it easier for you to see where the main parties stand on the big issues, here's everything they're saying about internships and jobs.
Labour
Zero-hours contracts will be banned.
The party also promise to ‘Tackle the growth of unpaid internships because thousands of highly able young people who cannot afford to work for free are locked out of too many of our professions’.
Conservatives
You won’t be taxed until you earn at least £12,400.
Lib Dems
‘A million more women will be enabled to work’, and they will ‘support growth in the creative industries, including video gaming’. They will also ‘encourage businesses to ensure that at least one place on their board is filled by a BAME candidate.’ They’ll also use ‘name blank recruitment wherever possible in the public sector’ so that people don’t get selected because their name sounds like a posh white boy’s.
They will improve enforcement action and clamp down on abuses by employers seeking to avoid paying the minimum wage by reviewing practices such as unpaid internships’
Green
Zero-hours contracts will be banned, and the Greens promise to ‘make equal pay for men and women a reality’. They will 'require 40% of all members of public company and public sector boards to be women.’ Plus, they’ll ensure that no company owner earns more than ten times the amount as their lowest-paid member of staff and ‘encourage greater diversity among entrepreneurs’.
They will also introduce ‘anonymised CVs so that Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and female candidates are not excluded before the interview stage because of their identity.’
The Greens will ‘ensure no unpaid full-time internship lasts more than four weeks,’ and create more apprenticeships for young people.
UKIP
As well as enforcing the minimum wage by increasing the number of minimum wage inspectors, UKIP will 'give jobs to British people by leaving the EU' and making it harder for non-citizens to find work here. They will also not ban zero hours contacts because they 'suit many people' but will introduce a legally binding Code of Conduct. They will also discourage people from going to university unless there are enough vacancies to give two thirds of graduates jobs after leaving uni.
**Like this? You might also be interested in: **
We Read The Conservative Party Manifesto So You Don't Have To
**Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson **
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.