Graduates angle for hotly contested civil service jobs
By Cao Desheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-11-01 05:47

Government posts continue to rank top on the job list for soon-to-be university graduates, despite cut-throat competition.

More than 380,000 people have qualified to compete for 10,000-odd vacancies in 97 different central government departments, statistics from the Ministry of Personnel indicate. That means there's only one job for every 38 applicants.

Cao Kai, a graduate student who majors in international journalism at the Communication University of China, said 80 per cent of his classmates have signed up for the 2006 national examination for civil servants.

"Civil service seems a good choice given the current tough employment situation," Cao told China Daily yesterday.

"I'm not sure whether I will like the job," he said, "but given the fierce competition in the job market, I just want to have a try like many other people."

Official statistics show that more than 4 million college students are expected to graduate in the coming July.

The national examination for civil servants was introduced in 1994, and the number of applicants has been on the rise year-on-year, even though more money can be earned working in joint-ventures.

Stable work, less pressure and desirable social status are some of the reasons for the growing enthusiasm for civil service careers.

Housing subsidies and medical allowances are among the other benefits.

Wang Qian, who began working for the China Insurance Regulatory Commission as a civil servant last year, said she believes being a civil servant is particularly suitable for female students.

"All of my friends and my parents think I should be a civil servant because the job is stable and without too much pressure," she said.

However, experts have described the situation of so many people competing for so few posts as an irrational "fever."

Liu Xirui, a professor of the Beijing-based National School of Administration, was quoted by China News Service as saying that the "fever" is, to some degree, related to the potential gains that a civil servant might receive.

The existing personnel system allows civil servants to have some administrative power, which will give them material benefits or social status, Liu said

However, Liu said, the "fever" will not end in the near future, as there are still only limited vacancies, and the personnel system itself still has progress to make.

(China Daily 11/01/2005 page2)