Why is the government destroying "first jobs"?

Unpaid internships are great. They are win-win. They let young people experiment with careers, and figure out what they’d like and what they’re good at. They help employers produce better things and recruit new employees.

I’ve used interns all my career. They have done some of my best research. Some became journalists themselves. Many told me: “Thank you! I learned more working for you than I learned in college, and I didn’t have to pay tuition!

I could have paid them, but then I would have used fewer interns. When I worked at ABC, the network decided to pay them — $10 an hour — but it also cut the number of internships by half. Politicians don’t get it. Neither do most people. Polls show that Americans support raising the minimum wage. Most probably also support limits on unpaid internships, believing that they replace paid work.