In a reversal of trends over the past decade a new wave of young Chinese workers are spurning the private sector and settling for jobs with the nation’s Public Service.
Their sudden enthusiasm for the public sector has grown in recent months following last year’s economic downturn, the Government’s decision to delay the retirement age and the high-profile regulatory difficulties of some private businesses.
More than 1.58 million candidates registered for China’s national Public Service examination this year, up sharply from 1.05 million in 2009 and just 125,000 in 2003.
The candidates are to compete for about 25,700 jobs at Ministries and State Agencies, putting the average chance of landing a Government job at about one in 61.
If Provincial and Municipal Government examinations are included, there are up to nine million candidates, most of whom are fresh graduates, vying for Public Service jobs each year.
Li Dongjie, who runs the Dongliang Public Service Training Centre in Shenzhen, says a decade ago a young person’s stereotype of a Public Service position was of a stable but dull, low-income job.
“Obviously, changes have taken place,” Mr Li said
“New Chinese graduates are also more patriotic and willing to support Communist Party philosophy than the previous two generations and in many cases it is a simple financial calculation, with Public Service incomes now superior to what can be obtained in the private sector,” he said.
Typical is the case of Dong Liang who, sick of working long hours for average pay, is looking to throw in his job at a small tech company in Shenzhen for work in the Public Service.
Although the 24-year-old has been employed in China’s fast-growing tech sector since he graduated in 2018, the country’s vast bureaucracy holds an irresistible allure, promising a stable career for life and a host of benefits.
“I have been working a lot of overtime in the past two years and the tech company’s future is so uncertain,” Mr Dong said before going for an interview for a Provincial Public Service job.
Beijing, 18 May 2021
