Two students are on their way to sit the civil servant recruitment exam in Taiyuan.

China’s civil servant recruitment remains competitive despite some cases of people quitting their secure jobs due to limited salary and room for promotion, says expert, suggesting that the salary system be improved to guarantee the civil servant team, China Economic Weekly reported.

Statistics by the State Administration of Civil Service show that 1.66 million participants in China’s 2018 civil servant recruitment exam applied for more than 28,000 vacancies in 120 central departments and agencies, up 173,400 than the previous year.

The number of people who registered for the vacancies in the national public service system has exceeded one million for 10 consecutive years since 2009.

Fierce competition in civil servant recruitment lies in stability, decent salary, and social status, experts disclosed.

However, in recent years, some 0.015 percent of civil servants in the country chose to quit their jobs to establish their own business or seek for higher-paying jobs.

Although the rate is low for the over 7 million civil servants in China, experts say it is necessary to improve the salary system to guarantee the country’s civil servant team.

The salary for civil servants, especially those at the grass-roots level, should be improved with the country’s GDP growth, said Zhu Lijia, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance, adding that a complete system should be established to ensure the salary growth on a reasonable basis.