East China city hires short-term officials

Attempting to break with "iron rice bowl" traditions of a job for life, a city of about 1.2 million people in East China's Zhejiang province plans to hire five of its government officials on five-year contracts.

Each of the newly hired officials in Yiwu will earn annual salaries of 300,000 ($47,928) to 600,000 yuan, Zhejiang Online reported.

The five are expected to take up senior roles in intelligent transport, e-commerce analysis, land-use planning, harbor management and logistics information management for the Yiwu government.

Recruitment began in December last year with credential review and examinations.

Chen Lingling, a human resources official with the city, told Zhejiang Online that the five would have a six-month probation period, followed by quarterly, six-month and yearly evaluations.

The officials can be fired if they fail their performance evaluations as they do not enjoy the standard lifetime employment guarantee of government officials in China. They do not carry administrative ranks as well.

Shenzhen launched the country's first pilot program in 2007. Yiwu, known for its small commodity industry, hopes to recruit talent with international trade skills through the program.

The scheme's transparency has been questioned. When the three-year contract ended in Shenzhen, not a single member of the 3,200 contract staff was laid off.

This sparked debate about whether the new contract job was just another "iron rice bowl," xinhuanet.com reported Sunday.

Shenzhen still needs time to adapt to a market employment system, said Dong Keyong, dean of the School of Public Administration and Policy at the Renmin University of China.

A competitive salary that can compete with the corporate world will attract higher-caliber talent to government, Dong explained.

The 2006 Civil Servant Law first advocated contract employment for government officials, Liu Xutao, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance, told the Global Times.

Liu foresees government officials becoming more closely connected to market forces.

"The newly hired government officials in Yiwu are responsible for jobs that required high-end skills like e-commerce analysis," he said.

The reform faced obstacles as existing employers may fear the new policy will hurt their interest or promotion chances, Liu warned.

Contract employment could not be extended to all positions in the State sector as government requires more long-term stability than the corporate world.

"It would be very difficult," Liu said. "Even Western countries like Germany and France have not achieved that yet."

The five are still waiting for their final appointment, a Yiwu government publicity department official who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Sunday.