National Internship Programme Caps Positions at 20% of Company Workforce

Manpower Minister Yassierli has confirmed the government will strictly oversee the implementation of the 2026 National Internship Programme. In addition to increasing the participant quota to 150,000, the government will also screen the internship positions offered by companies to ensure they are not merely administrative jobs that do not match the competencies of university graduates. However, this quota increase does not mean the number of positions within companies will multiply. Yassierli stressed that the available quota in companies will be maintained to avoid causing problems later. Yassierli said this year’s National Internship Programme received an additional quota, rising to 150,000 participants from 100,000 the previous year. According to him, enthusiasm from both companies and university graduates for the programme continues to grow. “Alhamdulillah, this year, in line with the direction of President Prabowo Subianto, we have a quota for 150,000 people. This is something extraordinary; last year it was 100,000, now it is 150,000,” Yassierli said during CNBC Indonesia’s Economic Updates on Friday. He revealed that many companies have started asking about the programme’s opening schedule, while interest from university graduates is also increasing. “I have already conveyed our evaluation results; the enthusiasm from companies has them asking us, ‘When is it opening again?’. And then I also hear our younger siblings, the university graduates, saying ‘Okay, if it is like this, it is interesting, I want to join too,’ and so on. Insyaallah, our internship schedule will begin on 10 August,” he stated. Currently, the programme is entering the company registration phase. During the first two weeks of July 2026, companies can offer internship positions that will later be chosen by participants. Applicants can only select vacancies from 15 to 28 July 2026, before companies conduct the selection process. Yassierli explained that the government is also limiting the number of interns in each company. The maximum participant quota is only 20 per cent of the number of organic employees, so the programme is not misused as a substitute for permanent workers. “It is limited to a maximum of 20 per cent of the organic employees. So we do not want a situation where a company says, ‘We recruit 1,000 employees,’ and because all the stipends are covered by the government, they think ‘Alright, as many as possible.’ That is not allowed. So we are guarding it in terms of numbers, and we are also guarding the positions,” he said. Besides limiting the number of participants, the Manpower Ministry will also screen the internship positions proposed by companies. According to Yassierli, positions that do not match the competencies of university graduates will not be approved. “For example, what, a receptionist? We say ‘no.’ These are undergraduate degree holders; they are trained for analytical thinking and so on, with a certain competency level. Therefore, we will screen what the internship positions are, including what they will be doing. So the company must register along with the job description,” Yassierli explained. He added that the government wants to ensure every participant gains relevant work experience that ultimately leads to a competency certification. “In fact, the end goal is that these interns will obtain certification in a specific vocational field. So we are guarding this,” he said. On the other hand, the government also wants the distribution of internship participants not to be concentrated solely in Jakarta. Therefore, the Manpower Ministry is collaborating with regional manpower offices to encourage more companies to join the programme. “We want the distribution to be even. We do not want it to pile up in Jakarta, because we want the benefits of this programme to be felt by all regions in Indonesia,” he said. “We encourage our colleagues at the Manpower Offices to say, ‘Come on, if there are companies that really need interns, join this programme,’ so that we can then direct our younger siblings to be well distributed,” he continued. Yassierli is optimistic that the number of participating companies will increase this year. As an illustration, around 8,000 companies and institutions participated in the inaugural National Internship Programme last year. “Last year, around 8,000 companies and institutions were involved, and we are confident there will be more this year, because last year was the first year and people might have been in a wait-and-see mode, thinking, ‘Is it true the government will pay for this? What if they don’t?’ But when they saw that it was real, I am sure the demand will be high, so our younger siblings will have more choices later,” Yassierli concluded.