2 mln expected to compete in civil servant recruitment

A record-high 2 million candidates are expected to register and apply for China's annual civil servant recruitment exam to be administered in November, an expert on the exam said Monday.

National-level government agencies, their affiliated public institutions and local branches will recruit 20,839 civil servants in 2013, nearly 3,000 more than this year.

However, more vacancies does not mean applicants will have better chances of securing a position, as the number of applicants may top 2 million, up from 1.3 million last year, said Li Yongxin, chief research fellow of Zhonggong Education, a training company focused on civil service applicants.

Therefore, only one in every 90 applicants will get the jobs in the end, said Li.

As China's employment situation in recent years has become increasingly grim, civil servant posts, which the public considers to be decent and stable jobs, have become the most sought-after positions.

Last year, a single vacancy in the National Energy Administration attracted 4,961 qualified applicants.

A commentary from the Global Times said that it would take "unusual luck" for an applicant to be offered a position as a civil servant.

The situation will not improve until government posts don't appear better than ordinary jobs, according to the commentary, which also urged greater efforts to balance employment benefits among different sectors and to offer everyone more attractive choices.

Meanwhile, more qualifications are being imposed on applicants, including requiring work experience at or below the county-level for applicants to central- and provincial-level posts, which will leave new college graduates able to apply for 75 percent of available posts.

While a great number of college graduates flock to big cities for jobs, the recruitment program continues to encourage fresh graduates to go grassroots by offering more vacancies at lower levels of government.

Over 2,000 new posts will be offered by local, central government-managed branches of the tax administration, customs, border management, marine affairs and postal service agencies, said Li.