Popularity of Internships Dipping
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
Becoming a government-hired intern was a popular career move for college students during the financial crisis last year. Nearly 100 billion won was earmarked for this "job-sharing" program.
Now, however, college students are so reluctant to enter the government agencies that some departments are attracting fewer applicants than openings.
According to the National Police Agency, only 686 applied for the 900 police officer internships in the first half of the year.
The NPA plans to recruit more in February.
It attributed the low interest to a drop in pay, among other things.
Last year, police interns received around 900,000 won a month for a maximum of 11 months, but new interns will only receive 700,000 won for five months.
However, the work hours were reduced from 40 hours per week to 30 hours.
The situation is similar in other parts of the government, with some agencies setting age limits.
Last year, 870 applied for one of 30 internships at the Ministry of Public Administration and Security. However, the number of applicants has dropped to 364.
Still, the fundamental problem of government internships is that they don't satisfy the needs of young job seekers.
The Korea Labor Institute (KLI) said that while the government-sponsored internship program is somewhat effective, it needs improvement.
"Those who participated in the program last year realized the government interns only do trivial work, although it is helpful in finding employment later. This caused a sharp decrease in the number of applicants," an official of KLI said. "The government should concentrate on proper jobs, not short-term, temporary positions."
The institute also recommended expanding government internships to include social welfare and non-governmental organizations to provide more diverse opportunities.