The Georgia Department of Labor is offering internships to area college students.

The Department's summer internship will offer students the chance to gain professional work experience, school credit and up to $1,400. As many as 80 sophomores, juniors and seniors will have the change to work at state career centers, vocational rehabilitation offices and the central office in Atlanta.

Interns will be expected to work 25 hours per week for seven weeks and will be paid semi-monthly, according to an article by Macon.com. Eligible students must be enrolled in a college, university of technical institute in Georgia, or must be a Georgia resident enrolled in college in another state.

Applicants should submit an application and one-page essay on "Why do you think internships are important?" Interns also may be required to complete a job interview.

Applications are available at any Department of Labor office, at the Department's Web site or by inquiring to Kyna Demons, Georgia Department of Labor, 148 Andrew Young International Blvd., Suite 600, N.E., Atlanta, GA 30303.

The internships could lead to more experienced candidates for Georgia's workforce. The state's unemployment rate increased from 8.5 percent to 9.3 percent during February.

Georgia had a total non-farm employment of 3,968,000 workers during February, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 4,003,900 workers during January and a 4.4 percent decrease from last year.