97 Internship Statistics You Must Know For Your Career Growth

Be it any industry, the business world is getting more competitive by the year. Getting a job is becoming tough, even if it’s an entry-level job. There are many highly talented and skilled candidates for almost every industry. It is so tough that one study also shows that 64% of students in the US fear career setbacks. So how does one make themselves stand out? It is all about the experience.

Your GPA is important but your experience in the real business world is highly valuable to employers these days. Now, to gain relevant work experience, the first step would be to look for an internship. Doing an internship benefits you to gain experience of what your job might look like and what kind of skills are actually needed for your career development.

Recent internship statistics prove that employers are more inclined toward candidates with internship experience. The number of students looking for internships is on the rise year by year. Your career can get a certain boost with a relevant internship program. Check out our internship statistics and facts to know how these programs are perceived by employers. Also, get an insight into the changes in internship programs.

Internship Statistics: Key Findings

70% of interns are hired at the same company after their internship.
On an estimate, 300,000 people intern yearly in the US.
56% of interns receive a full-time offer from organizations.
50% of interns who do 1 internship do more in the future.
57.5% of students with internships and 43.5% of students without internships get at least one job offer upon graduation.
Almost 86% of law clerks completed an internship.
Students with internships have a 15% less chance of being unemployed for a few years after graduating.
59.4% of students couldn’t take an internship because they didn’t know how to find an internship.
67.9% of interns looking to expand their knowledge and gain experience.
24.8% of interns looking to explore different career options
4.2% of students start their internships while in high school.
94.9% of employers find internships extremely important.

Internship Success Statistics

Today the number of students interning is higher than ever. This is due to the cut-throat competition around the industries. The importance of internships is increasing year by year. Employers are more drawn to candidates with relevant industry experience. Here are some statistics on the success of internship programs.

Since 2013, 60% of students from graduating class have completed at least 1 internship or co-op.
50% of interns complete more than 1 internship.
2% of interns complete six or more internships.
34% of interns believe that the internships impacted their careers big time.
Students with internships are likely to earn 6% more than students without internships.
37.2% of interns have responded to being very satisfied with their internships.
In-house interns’ five-year retention rate is 43.9%.
Interns from another company have a 37.3% retention rate.
Students with internships have received 16% more job offers than students without internships.

Did you know: There is a myth that internships are only available in summer.

How Do Candidates Find Internships?

11.1% of interns said they applied from the company website.
9.5% of interns said they applied from a reference or through friends and family.
9% of interns said they applied at a career fair.
7.8% of interns said they applied through professional networking websites.

Internship Salary & Perks Statistics

More than 65% of students take up internships for experience. However, employers are equally interested in providing internship programs for students. As they also want to get their company the best candidates possible. Hence monetary incentives are also offered by many companies. Here are some statistics:

Interns in the US earn $20.76 per hour on average.
Recent college graduates with internships earn an average salary of $47,470 annually.
26% of employers offer 401k to their interns.
18% of employers offer medical insurance to their interns.
14% of employers offer signing bonuses to their interns. The average being $2500.
College graduates with internship experience have 12% higher salaries than students without internships.
59% of employers offer housing or travel costs to their interns.
5% of employers also offer tuition reimbursements to their interns.

For interns, such perks are necessary to make the job feel fulfilling while pursuing their studies. Check out these Job satisfaction statistics.

Paid vs Unpaid Internship Statistics

57% of interns have paid internships, and the other 43% are unpaid.
Interns with paid internships have salary expectations between $50k to $55k.
Interns with unpaid internships have salary expectations between $40k to $45k.
Paid internships are 52% more likely to result in a full-time job.
The job success rate for paid interns is 66.4% while unpaid interns have a 43.7% job success rate.
Women have a 77% more chance of getting an unpaid internship.
84% of businesses offer planned social activities to unpaid interns.
More than 60% of interns don’t get paid in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Interesting Fact: Journalism, political science, and the HR field are more likely to provide an unpaid internship. Meanwhile, business or agricultural majors are usually granted a paid internship.

Highest Paying Companies Statistics

Internship programs are getting more popular day by day and many companies are using them more effectively than others to get the best minds for their company. They understand the need to adapt to the change and they know this won’t come for free. Here are some statistics on some of the highest internship pay rates in 2022.

Roblox pays a staggering median monthly salary of $9,667 to its interns.
In 2022, Uber increased their pay to interns by $980. This makes the actual median monthly pay $8,333.
Capital one pays an identical $8,333 median monthly pay to their interns.
Interns at Salesforce earn a median monthly rate of $8,167.
Amazon’s median monthly pay to their interns is $8,000.
Meta is one of the companies that decreased their pay in 2022 to $8000.
The company with top intern pay in 2021 ranks at number 7 in 2021, and Nvidia pays $8,000 to their interns.
Linkedin decreased their pay by $509 in 2022 to a median monthly salary of $7,500.
HubSpot has a $7,500 median monthly payment for its interns.
Expedia Group pays $7,500 monthly to their interns.

Did you know: the Facebook internship acceptance rate is between 40% – 50%. For more such facts, check out Recruitment statistics.

Average Internship Salary in the United States

The pay also differs from one state to another. This also gives an idea about where the internship opportunity could be high. Here are the top states with the highest average internship salary.

Did you know: San Francisco in California is the highest paying city for interns, at $39,040.

Which Job Roles are Popular For Internships?

With so many students seeking internships, there is no such industry that does not offer internships these days. The time is changing and internships are an invaluable source for searching out the next generation employees for companies. Although what kind of roles do interns get generally? Here are some statistics discussing the same.

PwC is known for offering full-time job offers after internships to 90% of its interns.
Companies like EY, KPMG, PwC, and Deloitte have over 80% of employees have internship experience.
Facebook has over 80% of its employees with prior internship experience.
78.3% of employees at Google have completed an internship.
IBM is also inclined to candidates with internship experience as over 70% of their employees have internship experience.
More than 89% of congressional employees have previously interned.
3 in 4 entry-level hires for law clerks, audits, and reporters have interned.
Positions with the highest internship rate are law clerks (86%), audit associates (85%), reporters (82%)
1/3rd of insurance and real estate agents have completed one or more internships.
FMCG (97%), Tourism (97%), Public Sector (75%), and IT sector (74%) are the highest intern recruiters.
9 out of 10 of the highest paying internships are in the tech industry.
9 out of 10 congress employees have completed at least 1 internship.
More than 50% of interns in the architecture and engineering fields get paid.
The most difficult industry for internships is health, social science, and STEM-related fields.

How did Covid-19 Affect Internship Opportunities?

Many aspects of everyone’s lives were affected when Covid-19 spread across the world. Many young aspirants were just about to start their careers. Here are some statistics showing how Covid-19 affected those who were seeking internships program and also those who were already interning with companies got affected.

46.2% of students believe Covid-19 has made internships more valuable.
22.7% of students thought of taking a gap year because of Covid-19.
64% of companies canceled the internships and did not offer compensation.
Around 38% of students’ internships were canceled due to Covid-19.
14.2% of students’ in-person internship was turned into online internship. Remote work statistics show how fast businesses shifted to work from home during the pandemic.
More than 38% of students did not plan for an internship in 2020.
71% of paid interns actually got paid.
Around 62% of interns were satisfied with their compensation.
Only 26% of students who had a part-time internship actually got paid.
48% of interns attended in-person internships.
Almost 45% of interns attended an online internship in 2020.
85% of job-seekers won’t mention canceled internships on their resume.
About 20% of employers had shortened the intern’s intake in 2020.
About 40% of employers have shortened the length of their internship programs.
75% of employers made at least 1 change in their internship program.
The internship rate of about 60% dropped to 21% after Covid-19.
38% of those who studied management and HR considered changing their major.
50% of those who studied event management considered changing their major.

Virtual Internship Statistics

Covid-19 brought about a handful of changes to the internship programs. Many employers made changes according to the situation and to cope with the change. One of the most prominent changes was the virtual internship. Here are some statistics to showcase the scope of virtual internships today.

Around 80% of students completing virtual internships were actually offered full-time jobs.
40% of employers switched to virtual internships only in 2020.
22% of interns were concerned about the virtual internship quality.
12% of interns were concerned about the full-time opportunity following their virtual internships.
9% of students were hoping to meet new people through virtual internships.
30% of students in virtual internships prefer 30-60 minutes of check-ins.
67% of interns in virtual internships preferred to check in with the manager daily.

Did you know: After Covid-19 many industries like fashion, engineering, banking, and law are also giving importance to virtual internships.

General Internship Statistics

Internships are crucial and the experience you gain is invaluable for your career. It is no secret that these internships can give you a platform to grow in your career to achieve success. Here are some general statistics on internships that you might find interesting if you are looking for internship opportunities.

67.3% of people were unable to intern because of obstacles in their lives.
75.5% of unpaid internship participants are women.
Four and a half months is the average length of an internship.
6-12 weeks of internships are rising in numbers.
Open applications are the most common way to source potential interns.
Eight and a half months is the average recruitment process time for interns.
Employers are more inclined toward hiring interns for unpaid internships.
88% of interns prioritize knowledge over money.
More and more employers are shifting towards a hybrid model of internships.
31% of interns go for internships after graduating from college.

Interesting Fact: 68% of Interns said that company didn’t have a structured policy for interns.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Are internships only for college students?

No, you might find the majority of people apply for internships after their graduation but actually, many internship programs are available for students in high school or people looking for a career change.

2. What are the chances of getting hired after an internship?

Well according to a study, 70% of interns actually get a job offer, and from those 80% of interns actually accept the offer.

3. Are most internships paid?

A study shows that almost 30% of internship programs are unpaid. This suggests that between 500,000 to 1 million interns are pursuing unpaid internships.

4. Does virtual internships hold the same importance as in-person internships?

Virtual internships are just on the rise and although at the moment in-person internships are given more importance, many fields have opened up their internship program to be virtual as well. So, virtual internships are not a waste and can hold valid importance to your career.

5. Do interns get a lot of work?

Yes, although the work will not be highly specialized, it will certainly be helpful to the organization. You will be contributing to the team just like a full-time employee would.

6. Do interns get benefits other than salary?

Yes! There are other benefits of internships and generally, unpaid internships offer non-monetary perks like 401k or some time flexibility, etc.

7. Is one internship enough?

The importance of internships is increasing and so if you have more experience in your relevant field it will only benefit you to land a successful job. To have this advantage weigh on your side, internships are the easiest way to get there.

What Are You Waiting For?

These internship statistics prove that employers today value the experiences of the real world. Employers need the best candidates for their company and providing an internship program is also beneficial for them as they get to show how a candidate can fit in their company. It is not only the intern trying to impress the company it is also the other way around.

We hope our internship statistics were helpful and if you wish to use our statistics, we would only request you to mention us as our source.

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