Over One Million People Took National Civil Service Exam

29th, November, more than one million people took the national civil service exam to compete for 15000 jobs, the admission ratio approaches to 69:1. Exam results will be published on the official websites of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the State Administration of Civil Service in mid-January, and those who passed will be interviewed. Considering the world economic crisis, corporate layoffs and pay cuts, it appears that only civil servants hold solid position and decent wage.

Some people claimed that China had been ruled by poets for over a thousand years, as the civil service exam is a tradition deeply rooted in Chinese culture. The order of social classes in Chinese feudal society is "士农工学商" (civil servant, farmer, worker, student, businessman). Today civil servants are still highly respected and well paid. Recent years China has deployed a so called "Sunshine Wage System" to eliminate the inefficiency and enhance financial transparency of bureaucratic system. In a changing society like China, people show great preference of risk avoidance to hedge the uncertainty and ambiguity of health care system, educational system and social insurance system. The civil service exam system also stimulates social mobility, which is very important to China today.