2015国家公务员考试开考 140万考生赴考

Changes in what it means to be a civil servant and better career planning at universities may see the sector’s applicant-to-job ratio drop in years to come.

Compared to last year, 3,000 more positions were available for the 2015 National Civil Servant exam, with 11,000 fewer applicants applying to take it. But that has not made the test any less cut-throat.

"The high ratio reflects several problems. Many university graduates do not have a clear career plan and simply follow what most people are doing. A lot of the young applicants want to be a civil servant mostly for the stability and welfare package, instead of a desire to actually be a civil servant. But I think this ratio will continue to drop in the future, because now there are better career services available in universities, more government assistance for entrepreneurs, and, also, the ongoing anti-graft campaign has made many people rethink their choices," said Dr. Wang Yan, National Institute of Education Sciences.

Since the country’s new leadership took office, it has produced detailed new regulations to abolish bureaucratic and extravagant work styles among government workers, requiring frugality practices.

Once considered the ‘iron rice-bowl’ because of its stability and generous benefits, civil servant jobs today are much less associated with social status and power.

While some government attract thousands of applicants, such as custom officers in Shanghai, vacancies in the less developed northwestern parts of the country have much fewer applicants.‍

"There’s still a huge gap between quality of lifestyles in the more developed urban areas and poorer rural areas of China.
Government jobs in these areas usually are less appealing because the conditions are much harsher. But as the gap continues to narrow as China restructures its economy and more incentive packages including promotion opportunities come out, the situation will slowly change," Dr. Wang said.

The popularity of being a civil servant may be slowly dropping in China, which is good news for people who truly want to take on the job of serving the people. But the still disproportionate ratio of applicant to vacancy needs to be better addressed.

Rather than blindly following trends, experts suggest young people truly explore what they actually want to do with their lives.