The annual Chinese civil service exam will start taking applications on October 15. The number of open positions for this year passed the twenty thousand mark, reaching 20,839, up 16 percent from last year. Of those, 70 percent of the quota will be assigned to college seniors who will graduate in the coming year. It is expected that there will be 6.8 million college graduates in 2013.
The civil service exam started in 1989. The number of applicants grew 10 times from 120,500 in 2003 to 1.4 million in 2010. In 2012, the competition Is strong for the top positions. Four thousand applications were received for the top competitive position. At the same time there are over ten positions that have no applicants.
Source: Xinhua, October 13, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/edu/2012-10/13/c_113361121.htm