More than half a million Chinese will sit for a national civil servant recruitment examination on Saturday, with 42 people competing for each job on average.

The Ministry of Personnel, which organizes the annual examination, announced Tuesday that 535,574 people will compete for 12,724 job openings in 89 central departments and regional units of these departments.

"The examination is popular because it has provided a level ground for competition to become civil servants," said Vice Minister of Personnel Yin Weimin in an on-line interview at www.gov.cn, China's central government website.

He said the examination's popularity was also due to the prestige associated with civil servants and increasing competition on the job market.

The examination is open to nearly all Chinese citizens aged 18 to 35 who are college graduates, except those with criminal records, removed from public office for wrongdoing, those caught cheating in the examination in the past two years, service personnel, incumbent civil servants and civil servants who have been sacked within the last five years.

Since 1994, China has organized 13 consecutive civil servant recruitment examinations for departments of the central authorities and regional units of these departments. Of more than 1.16 million people who applied to sit for the examinations, 45,000 have been recruited.

In this year's examination, more than one third of the posts are allocated to college graduates with more than two years work experience at grass-roots level. Candidates from grass-roots levels, especially from outlying areas with inhospitable conditions, enjoy preferential treatment in recruitment.

The measure apparently aims to encourage college students to take jobs at grass-roots levels on graduation.

With the rapid expansion of college enrollment, college graduates are struggling to find jobs in large and medium-size cities, but demand for their qualifications remains high in small cities, towns and rural areas.

An estimated 4.13 million college students graduated this year, 750,000 more than last year. The number of new college graduates will be close to five million in 2007.

Civil servant recruitment examinations for provincial authorities are carried out separately.

Source: Xinhua