Record number of Chinese vie for gov't posts

BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Chinese media) -- Government jobs have

become increasingly popular in China as the latest figures showed a record 1.05

million people applied to take part in an upcoming nationwide government

recruitment exam, well surpassing last year's 800,000.

Online applications for the 2009 national civil

servant recruitment exam ended over the weekend, with the most popular position,

a post with the China Disabled Persons' Federation, attracting 4,723 applicants,

the people.com.cn revealed on Monday.

On average, 77 applicants would compete for each

government - last year it was 60 to 1.

There are 40 hottest posts each with more than 1,000

applicants.

The fiercest competitions are for posts with the

taxation and customs bureaus, with 17 of them on the top-40 list.

A post in the local earthquake bureau in Chongqing,

one of the regions affected by the devastating May 12 quake, has unexpectedly

fought its way into the list, with more than 2,000 applicants.

China's central organs including the National

Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Health, as well as the

General Office, the Publicity Department, and the United Front Work Department

of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), also have posts

on the list.

However, not all of the government posts are desired

by job-hunters. A total of 87 posts ended up with no applicants.

The weather bureau remained in deep freeze, with

posts in Hebei,Gansu and Jiangxi provinces as well as Ningxia Hui autonomous

region attracting no comers.

Meanwhile, some posts at the audit administration,

the local bureau of civil aviation and the marine board also had no applicants.

Although the most popular post varies year by year,

they shared common features such as a lower threshold for application and better

payment and welfare, said Zhou Ying, former leader of the group who programmed

test questions for the exam.

A total of 13,566 positions in central government

were open for public competition this year.

The written test scheduled for Nov. 30 this year

includes two sessions, the administrative aptitude test (AAT) in the morning and

the essay test in the afternoon, before a more competitive interview at the

beginning of 2009.

In a cut-throat employment market, the civil service

has become one of the most popular professions of the country because it offers

a stable income, social status and excellent welfare

insurance.