A flood of civil servants

College graduates should not put all their hopes in working for the civil service and should instead seek work in other areas, says an article in People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:

The results of the written portion of the 2008 civil servant recruitment examination were made public. They reveal that 640,000 applicants sat for the test this year. One out of 60 candidates became a government employee, compared with one in 42 last year. It seems that the national civil servant examination has become one of the most heated tests in China.

There are several reasons for students' widespread interest in joining the ranks of government officials. One is that the occupation is relatively stable, with a well-established security system. The second is the fairness of the examination and recruitment systems. Nearly all officials are selected according to their performance on the examination. The third reason is that there are fewer job opportunities and many college grads see the civil service as a great way to beat the odds.