The written test for the national civil servant examination was held on Nov. 30, 2014. More than 120 central state organs and public institutions plan to recruit in excess of 22,000 people. Statistics show that about 900,000 candidates actually took part in the examination, making the ratio between participants and recruiting number 40 to 1, which is a new low in recent years. Since last year, the demand for many provincial level civil servant examinations has also have cooled off.

Fewer people registering for the examination doesn't mean that the job prospects have become less attractive. In fact, job specifications have been more specific and scientific this year, which can better guide the participants to choose a suitable position and avoid pointless registration.

It has been made clear that all the civil servants will join the unified social security system, which means there will be no super-national treatment for them anymore. This may be one reason why some people have lost their enthusiasm for the exam. And many college graduates do not want to find themselves restrained by the working style of government departments. They are more inclined to work in private enterprise or even start their own business.

In China, basic level civil servants generally have a low salary, heavy work-pressure, and limited opportunities for promotion, which also reduces the appeal of such posts. Although the work is hard, the ratio between the salary and the average wage in society keeps dropping. In western provinces, the salary of a civil servant with a college education was 1.46 times the local average wage in 2007; by 2013 it was only 90 percent of the local average wage. Nevertheless, most civil servants remain remain with the service until retirement. Taking into account all the circumstances, a drop in the numbers registering for the examination is totally understandable.

Local and national authorities have issued a series of policies to address the difficulties faced by basic level civil servants, but it will takes for those policies to take effect. Until the actual changes begin to filter through, enthusiasm for the civil servant examination will continue to cool down.

The article is edited and translated from《国考遇冷，“铁饭碗”还吃香吗?》, source: The Beijing News, author: Zhu Hengshun. 

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