KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Resources Ministry (Kesuma) is looking to encourage between 30,000 and 50,000 paid internships under its Practical Training Incentives (Ilham) programme.
The programme includes incentives for companies to offer paid internships by offering double tax deductions, use of Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) levy and matching grants.
The government offers double tax deductions for monthly allowances paid under the structured internship programme (MySIP).
It also allows usage of up to 50 per cent of a company's HRDF levy to pay internship allowances.
The Internship Matching Grant for SMEs (LiKES) offers up to RM30 million for SMEs to offer paid internships.
"Kesuma sees internship as a very important skills training platform. About 40 per cent transition from internships to working with the same company, so we want to encourage that,"Human Resources Minister Steven Sim said at a media gathering today.
The ministry unveiled Ilham in March 2024.
It is an ecosystem of internship incentives for employers driven by TalentCorp and other agencies under the ministry.
It comprises four components: MySIP, LiKES, Industrial Training Scheme (ITS), and MyNext profiling and internship placement platform.