Now hiring: the White House.
The Biden administration on Thursday said that White House interns will, for the first time, be paid, starting in the fall.
“Too often, unpaid federal internships have been a barrier to hardworking and talented students and professionals, preventing them from contributing their talents and skills to the country and holding them back from federal career advancement opportunities,” the administration said in a news release.
Participants will be paid at a rate of $750 a week, according to the Frequently Asked Questions section of the White House Internship Program site. With interns expected to work a minimum of 35 hours a week, that means they’d earn an hourly rate of $21.43.
Interns would receive the money in two stipends, at the beginning and end of the program.
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The administration described paying White House interns as a way to expand opportunities for low-income students, among others.
“This significant milestone of paying White House interns will help remove barriers to equal opportunity for low-income students and first-generation professionals at the beginnings of their careers and help to ensure that those who receive internships at the White House — and who will be a significant part of the leadership pipeline across the entire federal government — reflect the diversity of America,” the release said.
The program’s fall 2022 session runs for 14 weeks, starting Sept. 12 and ending Dec. 16. The in-person program is funded through a government-spending bill Biden signed in March.
While the FAQ suggests interns might only work 35 hours a week, White House staff have said they log long hours. Biden’s national-security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said in April that his job is so intense that he had not been able to maintain a “really good exercise regimen and a good sleep regimen and a good diet. I mean, honestly, I’ve reverted to a certain extent to eating like I did in college.”
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MarketWatch’s Victor Reklaitis contributed to this story.