Civil service exam turns tougher The huge thirst for jobs in the civil service has made the national civil servant exam one of China's most competitive tests. The first exam was held in 1995, and since then more and more people have signed up for it, with applications reaching a peak over the last two years. The latest online survey, carried out by China Youth Daily and www.qq.com, found that more than 73 per cent of young people want to work as civil servants. Of the 17,330 respondents, about 83 per cent said they were attracted by the job's stability, guaranteed health care and pension. Meanwhile, 55 per cent said it could bring "practical profits." Nearly 1 million people applied to take the exam last year, yet only just over 10,000 were finally employed. This year the stiff competition continued. The exact number of applicants is not known, with the final day for applications today. But the influx of applicants has already broken the exam's website once. China Youth Daily reported that the site was forced to close for maintenance due to unusually high traffic on the night of October 16. In a typical year several hundred applicants will apply for many of the jobs listed. For example, the five job vacancies provided by the secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party have this year attracted more than 3,880 applicants. In general, the exam means 50 people competing for one post, the report said. Positions as civil servants are attractive, not only because of the stable income and good health care, but also because of the low risks compared with the power and resources the positions enjoy. Among the total 6 million public servants, around 20,000 were sacked between 1996 and 2003.   點擊進入往期回顧 (China Daily)

近幾年掀起的“公務員熱”使國家公務員考試成為中國競爭最激烈的考試之一。 自1995年國家公務員考試推行以來，報考公務員日漸升溫，這兩年更是熱得發燙。 中國青年報和騰訊網聯合開展的一項最新在線調查顯示，73％以上的年輕人愿意當公務員。 在17330名調查對象中，約83％的人說，他們主要看重公務員工作穩定、醫療和養老都有保障。 此外，55％的人說，當公務員能獲得“切實利益”。 去年，近100萬人報考了國家公務員，而最后只有1萬多人被錄用。 “公務員熱”今年繼續升溫。今天是2006年國家公務員考試報名的最后一天，目前還未統計出準確報考人數。 但報名人數過多一度造成國家公務員考試報名系統的癱瘓。 據中國青年報報道，由于10月16日晚登陸報名系統的人太多，國家公務員報名網站不得不暫停運轉，進行系統維護。 通常情況下，很多職位都出現“幾百人搶一個”的情況。如，今年中央辦公廳秘書處的5個職位就吸引了3880個人報考。 報道說，總體上是50人“搶”一個職位。 國家公務員之所以如此有誘惑力，不僅是因為收入穩定、醫療有保障，風險小、權力大、實惠多也是其中的重要原因。 我國公務員人數達600萬，從1996年至2003年，全國共有2萬名公務員被辭退。