December 6, 2024
SHENZHEN – Competition for civil service jobs in China has reached new highs, as millions of graduates in the country seek out stable employment in a job market fraught with uncertainty.
This past weekend, more than 2.5 million aspiring bureaucrats – the largest number in more than a decade – sat an hours-long national civil service examination at test centres across the country.
It is their first hurdle in a quest to secure one of just 39,700 government jobs that begin in 2025.
Broadly, this translates to an average of 65 people competing for every job.
A record number of graduates in China are grappling with a labour market plagued by layoffs and wage cuts that have extended even into the public sector.
Youth joblessness has remained persistently high as opportunities dwindle – the figure, at 17.1 per cent in October, is above the global level and does not account for students or the underemployed.
The rush for government jobs goes back to the Covid-19 pandemic period in China, as the state mounted a regulatory crackdown on industries from property to tech that shook the private sector, a major employer.
Recent graduate Zhang Shuaikang, 23, was one of the millions who sat the recent civil service exam, in the north-eastern city of Harbin.
“It’s mostly because I have always dreamed of becoming a policeman,” said the design major, of his public service ambitions.
Many of his university mates had also taken the exam, including four of his six roommates, he told The Straits Times. A career in government appealed to them largely because “the job is stable, pay is high, and (they) can have time to spend with family”.
Civil service jobs are viewed as a good career option in China for the prestige and authority that a government official commands.
These positions, which offer a stable income and benefits, are sometimes called “iron rice bowls” for the job security they afford.
But since the pandemic, their popularity has skyrocketed as the economy struggled and businesses faltered.
In the decade to 2020, about one million people took the national civil service exam each year, according to ST’s review of publicly available figures. Their ranks have swelled since, with 2024’s examinees more than doubling from four years prior.
GRAPHICS: THE STRAITS TIMES
The journey to a government job in China typically begins with candidates applying for one of the listed openings.
After an initial screening for eligibility, those who qualify can take a wide-ranging written exam that spans political theory to general knowledge. The field is winnowed as successful candidates move on to interviews and health and background checks that include scrutiny of candidates’ “political character” and “moral quality”.
Apart from civil service recruitment at the national level for openings in central government bodies and related institutions, the country’s provinces also run a separate selection process for local officials.
The most oversubscribed job opening in 2024 – handling international relations at the China Vocational Education Association – attracted more than 16,700 applicants, local media reported.
Competition was stiffest not in the big cities but in Tibet, China’s far-flung south-western region, with an average of 150 candidates vying for each position there.
Requirements for jobs in difficult and remote locales are typically lower in a bid to attract more applicants.
The popularity of public sector jobs has persisted in spite of reports of delayed wage payouts and cutbacks in benefits for civil servants, as cash-strapped local governments struggle with their balance sheets.
This suggests that the employment situation in other sectors might be worse, with fewer good and stable jobs available, said economics professor Zhu Tian from the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai.
Meanwhile, the private sector, which employs more than 80 per cent of the country’s urban labour force, has also been plagued by pay cuts and layoffs amid an economic slump.
In 2023, the top 500 private companies in China axed more than 300,000 jobs from a year earlier, according to figures from the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.
Boosting job prospects for a growing number of college graduates in a flagging economy has been a priority for policymakers in China.
The country’s vast civil service, where openings have more than doubled from 2019, has been one repository for jobseekers.
But growth in new job openings has slowed for the 2025 intake cycle, remaining roughly constant with the numbers for 2024.
GRAPHICS: THE STRAITS TIMES
This slowing is understandable, Prof Zhu said, as government revenues fall. “How can you increase your job opportunities if you cannot even pay your own current workers?”
In September, Beijing released a 24-point plan to boost employment, such as by incentivising businesses to expand job creation.
But unless economic growth recovers, employment will remain a problem, Prof Zhu added. With the recent roll-out of stimulus and possibly more in 2025, “hopefully the economic situation might improve a bit”.