Civil servant exam enrollments decline

Graphics: GT

Test-takers walk out of one of Shanghai's 39 venues for the 2014 National Civil Servant Exam Sunday. A total of 56,606 people in Shanghai passed their preliminary reviews to take the exam. Photo: Cai Xianmin/GT

A drop in civil service recruitment and in the numbers enrolling for the entrance examinations may be due to a streamlining of governmental administration and the ongoing anti-graft campaign, analysts said Tuesday.

Some regions are experiencing either the first or the largest drop in the number of enrollments in recent years.

East China's Zhejiang province saw the lowest number of candidates enrolling for the exam in the past four years. At 308,200 applicants, the figure is a 27 percent decrease from last year, while the quota for the civil servants has reduced 1,500 from last year to 8,995 available positions from 10,495 in 2013.

"The recruitment quota drops as the government starts to cut and optimize governmental departments," said Hu Xingdou, a political science professor with the Beijing Institute of Technology.

"The campaign targeting the 'gray income' for officials also contributes to the decrease in those enrolling," he said.

The central government announced plans to streamline administration in November 2013, and in December 2012, issued a regulation to Party members to eschew red tape, extravagancy and corruption.

Huang Hua (pseudonym), who enrolled for this year's exam in Guangdong province, told the Global Times that he quit his finance job as he believes being a civil servant offers more stability.

"Even though civil servant salaries seem to have dropped as bonuses and gray income are banned in many places, the job is still attractive," Huang said.

While the overall enrollment number has dropped, all regions are not experiencing the same trend in terms of the ratio of job seekers to positions.

In Guangdong, roughly 24 people are competing for one position, a new high compared with 2013 when 19 people applied for each available post.

"The change of the enrollment to recruitment ratio is highly influenced by the specific positions provided and the requirements of the positions, for example, some positions may have fewer opportunities to earn more money," Hu said, noting that the number of graduates can also influence the number.

He said that the overall decrease in enrollment does not indicate that the attraction of being a civil servant has lessened, however, government pledges to free up the economy may have a future impact.

"When the government largely reduces economic intervention is when people are not fighting for a government job, as they will have few opportunities to benefit from corruption," he noted.