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A report delivered to the recent session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress called for better management of civil servants in order to improve governance down to the grassroots.
According to the report, recruitment, appraisal and management of civil servants on all levels must have different mechanisms. Particularly with recruitment, some current practices still fail to meet the requirements for various posts.
In the same meeting, a report from the Internal and Judicial Affairs Committee said that some departments in towns are short on civil servants because of the "unattractive" life, working and salary conditions.
The report pointed out that due to economic and work pressure, many civil servants have resigned. The salary for the position has not been upgraded since 2006 despite increases in commodity prices and income per capita.
To serve the public better, the report urged for the strict implementation of the Civil Service Law, especially in aspects affecting those in the grassroots.
China's civil service framework is composed of 27 ranks or positions, with each classified with a grade of 1 to 14 to indicate a personnel's seniority. The salary of civil servants is composed of four parts (official post pay, official class pay, basic pay and seniority pay), and the basic salary comes with subsidies on goods, housing, cash and allowances.
China has been pushing for a reform to its civil service program over the past decade, but only minute changes have been applied.
John Burns, a professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong wrote a review of China's civil service reforms using data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
In the 2007-published report, Burns recommended that salaries of civil servants should remain competitive and determined locally. He noted that "surveys of pay levels should be carried out regularly and their results published."
As of 2012, the average salary of a civil servant was 46,207 yuan, way below than that of an average citizen.
