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Updated Saturday, March 28, 2009 9:18 am TWN, The China Post news staff

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MOE to launch internship program

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The Ministry of Education (MOE) is on its way to implementing an extensive internship program by arranging for college graduates to work for companies aided by subsidies from the government, although labor groups are worried the plan could cause more layoffs.

As part of the government's overall economic and investment stimulus program, the MOE has earmarked an outlay of NT$12.1 billion for the internship plan.

A total of 33,500 graduates from colleges and universities plus graduates in the past two years who are unable to find employment will be able to work as interns at enterprises and organizations.

The government will grant a subsidy of NT$26,190 per person per month for a period of one year to the employers.

The MOE is ready to launch the project after lawmakers at the Legislative Yuan ratify the stimulus package and budget.

The ministry expects the program to start as quickly as next month.

Companies or organizations wishing to hire the interns may file applications and list qualifications needed for the jobs via the Web sites of the MOE or the universities.

For those with more than 10 staff members, the number of interns should not exceed 30 percent of the present payrolls.

For smaller firms with less than 10 employees, they can hire no more than two interns.

But for any larger corporations, the total number of hired interns should not surpass 335 in principle.

Yet labor organizations expressed concern that the well-meant program could prompt some unscrupulous employers to dismiss existing employees in order to create vacancies for the low-cost interns.

The fear is that some companies could “accept government money with the left hand, lay off workers with the right hand,” Taiwan Labor Front Secretary-General Sun You-lian said as he called for the establishment of preventive mechanisms.

“With the government's plan, businesses will receive free labor. What worries current workers are possible layoffs from corporations abusing the plan. They can hire free interns and lay off current employees to lower their expenses, especially companies in the high-tech industry,” Sun said.

The government should not subsidize companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference which laid off more than 1,000 employees, Sun emphasized.

“This program should not be available to those that have laid off workers within the past year,” he said.

Chen Ming-yin, director of Technical and Vocational Education at the MOE, said the program will let graduates from higher-learning institutions gain practical vocational skills.

Employers will have ready talents for hiring for business expansion or when business conditions improve, he said.

But he stressed that the internships are basically to promote employment and enterprises should not lay off existing employees or stop the program midway through.

Chen said that the MOE has some precautionary and safety measures put in place.

Companies applying for the internship program must include tax and labor insurance information for the past quarter, he said.

If companies are discovered to have laid off workers without any fault of the workers, the government will limit or remove the number of interns and those interns will be transferred elsewhere, he added.

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