China recruits more than 120,000 civil servants this year

BEIJING, Dec. 18 - China recruited more than 120,000 civil servants in 2009, 30,000 more than last year, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security announced Friday.

About 5 million people had taken part in the recruit exams in 2009, a work meeting of the ministry revealed.

"At provincial government departments and those at higher levels, 60 percent of the new recruits have had grass-roots working experiences," said Yin Weimin, minister of Human Resources and Social Security.

He said the country would further improve the civil service selection mechanism, and recruit more talents from rural areas, communities and those who had working experiences with the grass-roots.

In a cut-throat employment market, the civil service has become one of the most popular professions in China because it offers a stable income, social status and good welfare insurance.

In November, more than 1 million people sat the state-level civil servants exam to compete for 15,000 government jobs in 2010.