Record numbers flock to take civil service exam
More than 1.5 million, mostly university graduates, pursue 20,000 posts that offer the prospect of a job for life
Hundreds of thousands packed out schools and universities across China yesterday to take the national civil service exam, with a record number registering in search of a stable government job.
More than 1.5 million people applied to sit the exam, the Beijing Times reported, over 30 times the number a decade ago. They are vying for about 20,000 government vacancies, according to state television.
The rapid expansion in recent years has been boosted by the perception that government jobs offer stability and status, test-takers said.
Outside the Hujiaolou middle school in Beijing, one of dozens of test sites in the capital, Liu Ting, a 24-year-old student, stood clutching a red revision book containing lists of "hot" political jargon to be used during the test.
"I'm taking the exam because government jobs are more stable," Liu said. "There's basically no chance of losing a government job once you have one."
Most candidates are university graduates, part of a huge expansion of higher education on the mainland with almost seven million new graduates set to hit the job-market this year, the state-run China News Service said.
A 31-year-old woman surnamed Liu said she hoped to swap her private-sector job as a quality inspector for a government post because "the benefits are better, and you don't need to worry about pensions or health insurance".