National Internship Program Prepares 150 Thousand Participants, Allowance Paid by the Government

JAKARTA - Minister of Manpower (Menaker) Yassierli said the National Internship Program is one of the government's efforts to facilitate graduates to enter the industrial world through strengthening competencies that match the needs of companies as well as increasing national employment opportunities.

According to Yassierli, the National Internship Program is one of the government's focuses under the leadership of President Prabowo Subianto in 2026. The program is designed to prepare the workforce to be more ready to enter the industrial world while supporting national productivity growth.

"And thank God, we from the Ministry of Manpower this year, President Prabowo Subianto has a focus on preparing workers to enter the industrial world. This is our current focus," said Yassierli when opening the Job Fair or Job Fair entitled AI Career Boost Day 2026 in Jakarta, Tuesday.

The government has prepared a quota for the National Internship Program for up to 150,000 participants. Through this program, participants will have the opportunity to undergo an internship for six months with a stipend fully covered by the government.

Yassierli gave an example, interns in Jakarta received pocket money of around Rp. 5.7 million per month. Meanwhile, participants who undergo internships in Bekasi and Karawang receive around Rp. 5.9 million per month. The allowance is transferred directly into the account of each participant.

He revealed that the National Internship Program in the previous year involved around 100,000 participants. Of these, around 30 percent of participants have received job offers from the companies where they carried out internships before the program ended.

"Last year, the first batch of 100,000 participants in the National Internship and thank God it was completed. As many as 30 percent of those who interned in the industry were offered jobs at the company where they interned before the internship was completed," he said.

Yassierli said the high interest of companies to participate in the National Internship Program shows that the world's industrial needs for competent labor continue to increase. Many companies have applied to the Ministry of Manpower to obtain quota for internship participants.

"Now companies are chasing us. There are maybe hundreds of companies, yes, thousands of companies, 'Mr. Minister, Mr. Director General, can we get a quota?' This is all you want," he said.

Responding to the high demand, the Ministry of Manpower has implemented an accountable and transparent selection mechanism. Each internship position will undergo a verification process to ensure that participants are placed in accordance with their educational background, competencies, and the need for skill development in the industrial world.

In the first wave with a quota of 50,000 participants, the number of applicants has reached around 300,000 people. The high number of applicants shows the enthusiasm of university graduates to participate in the competence improvement program prepared by the government.

"But we make the system accountable and transparent. The company first posts the internship vacancy, we verify it. We don't want there to be an internship that graduates from S1 engineering to be an intern because the company says, 'While it's still free'. Well, this is what we control," he said.

Yassierli emphasized that the National Internship Program is one of the government's strategies to reduce the gap between the competencies of graduates and the needs of the industrial world. This program is also expected to strengthen the quality of Indonesian human resources (HR) so that they are increasingly ready, competent, and able to compete in the world of work.

Through collaboration between the government and the business world, the National Internship Program is expected not only to provide work experience for graduates, but also to open up wider employment opportunities in various industrial sectors.