Labour Minister Proposes Increase in National Internship Programme Participants to 150,000 for 2026

Labour Minister (Menaker) Yassierli has proposed increasing the number of participants in the national internship programme for 2026 from around 100,000 to 150,000 people.

He stated that the proposal is based on a preliminary evaluation showing high enthusiasm from participants and appreciation from companies for the programme.

“We see extraordinary enthusiasm from participants and appreciation from companies; we have proposed the 2026 internship programme, proposing the number to rise to 150,000 people,” Yassierli said during a working meeting with Commission IX on Thursday (9/4).

He explained that the proposal has been conveyed to President Prabowo and is currently awaiting budget availability.

“The letter has been submitted to Mr President, and we are still waiting for budget availability, and hopefully with support from the Ministry of Finance and the Coordinating Ministry, this programme can be implemented,” he said.

Meanwhile, for 2025, the number of participants who passed the selection for the programme was recorded at more than 102,000 people.

However, Yassierli said there were participants who withdrew because they had obtained jobs and for other reasons.

The internship programme is then divided into several implementation stages.

“This is then detailed in batch 1, batch 2, batch 3, and batch 4, and batch 1 will finish on 19 April 2026, then batch 1B, 1A, 1B, 23 April, and then batch 3 will finish on 15 June 2026,” he said.