More than 4 out of 10 companies in South Korea plan to employ interns during the second half of the year, mainly for the purpose of covering talent shortages, reports Yonhap News Agency, citing a survey of 416 companies, taken by recruiting platform Saramin. Nearly half, or 44% of the respondents said they have plans to hire interns in the July-December period. The figure is higher than the percentage of intern-hiring firms a year earlier. About 33% of local firms employed interns during the same period a year ago. Solving the problem of talent shortages is their top reason (77%), followed by the need for supporting manpower (about 33%) and business expansion (15%). Those companies are moving to employ an average of three interns during the six-month period, with approximately 44% saying they will hire more this year. The survey also showed 35%t of the companies having plans to convert interns into regular workers and the average service period of interns amounting to four years and eight months.