In this file photo taken in 2012, people line up outside a national civil service exam site at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province. [Photo/China Daily]

China's civil servant exam is seeing fiercer competition, as job openings have been slashed.

The registration for the guokao, or China's national civil service exam, ended on Wednesday. As of the deadline date, more than 1.2 million people have qualified to take the exam for 14,500 vacancies, China News reported.

The number of job vacancies this year saw a sharp decline, nearly half that of 2017, when 1.1 million applicants vied for 28,500 vacancies.

Competition is fierce: the average ratio of applicants to openings is about 85:1 this year, much higher than last year's 58:1.

The most sought-after vacancy, a post in the meteorological bureau of Longmen county in Guangdong province, drew 4,040 applicants.

The decrease in vacancies for this year's guokao is attributed to the reorganization of the Communist Party of China and government institutions carried out earlier this year, according to an expert from Offcn, a "cram school" for the civil servant exam.

The unidentified expert said the merger of national tax and local tax authorities led to a nearly 70 percent reduction in related posts, which account for nearly half of all vacancies.

The guokao is an annual examination to recruit civil servants for national-level government departments, affiliated public institutions and local branches.

Despite the relatively low salaries of civil servants, job security and perks such as a better pension plan, health and welfare benefits attract many young candidates.

While the number of government positions has dropped, China has seen a record number of 8.2 million college graduates this year, fueling an ever more competitive job market.

The written exam of guokao will be held on Dec 2, and those who pass will take interviews to be held next year.