Chinese Youth Flocking to Civil Service Exams Amid Job Shortage... Competition Ratio Up to 3800 to 1

"Employment Insecurity Due to Economic Recession Makes Public Servants a Coveted Job"
Youth Unemployment Rate Aged 16-24 at 19.9% from July... Highest Since Records Began

On October 23, an image of President Xi Jinping is displayed on a large screen installed in the commercial district of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Photo by AP Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] As the Chinese economy slows down and employment becomes unstable, the popularity of the civil service exam, Guokao (國考), has surged significantly. Analysis also shows that more than half of university graduates are changing their career paths to apply for graduate school.

According to Yonhap News on the 1st, local media Yangcheng Evening News reported that over 1.16 million people had applied for the Chinese National Civil Service Exam, which began accepting applications on the 25th of last month, as of the 31st of last month. This year, the Guokao will select 37,100 candidates, and the average competition ratio has exceeded 31 to 1 as of that date.

The average competition ratio for the top 10 most popular job categories reached 1,500 to 1. In particular, the competition ratio for the tax collector recruitment exam at the Qinghai Provincial Tax Bureau recorded 3,799 to 1.

Considering that a large number of applicants rush to apply on the last day to choose jobs with lower competition ratios, the final number of applicants for this year, whose application deadline is on the 3rd of next month, is expected to be much higher than last year. Last year, when the total number of recruits was 31,200, 2.123 million people took the Guokao, resulting in an average competition ratio of 68 to 1.

Experts attribute the rising popularity of the civil service exam to the employment difficulties caused by China's economic downturn. Zhu Jiaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences, said, "With employment unstable across society, civil servants, who are relatively stable and have comparatively high salaries, have become a coveted target." Additionally, Liu Youzhen, a researcher at Huatu Education Research Institute, analyzed, "Many people who graduated this year but could not find jobs, or those who lost their jobs due to large-scale layoffs by big tech and private education companies, are applying for the Guokao in large numbers." It is analyzed that young people, who find it difficult to get jobs as private companies struggling with management difficulties due to COVID-19 reduce employment, are choosing civil service jobs that are stable and socially respected.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the youth unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 24 in July was 19.9%, the highest since statistics began to be collected. Considering that the youth population aged 16 to 24 in China is 107 million, the number of unemployed in this age group exceeds 21 million.

As employment difficulties deepen, the number of university students changing their career paths by entering graduate school has also surged. According to the Chinese Ministry of Education and others on October 27, the number of graduate school applicants for the 2023 academic year in China is estimated to reach 5.2 million. This is an increase of 630,000 from last year's 4.57 million applicants. Considering that the number of Chinese university graduates (fall semester system) this year is 10.76 million, more than half of university graduates are graduate school applicants.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.