A government position for a political party attracted 8,000 applicants. The position is for a receptionist for the Chinese Democratic League in Beijing.
Based on government data, the 2017 national civil service exam reached 1.48 million this year from only 91,700 in 2015. There will be only 27,000 candidates expected to be accepted into government institutions.
Chinese government positions are called the "golden rice bowl" since the job is stable and permanent. It is considered a prized position in the Chinese job market.
Job positions are stable and can provide income to an individual until retirement age and are stable even in a rough economy.
An HR employee named Lucia said, "Working for a business, you always need to worry about your job performance and your relationship with colleagues - and you still could be out of a job if the company isn't turning a profit."
She added, "But once you become a public servant, regardless of the economic situation or your personal performance you are unlikely to ever get fired."
An employee for a local education department said his annual salary has held steady at 120,000 yuan or $17,725 for the past five years. His tasks for his job title has also been consistently the same.
Government employees do not have salary increases. The lack of opportunity to earn more has driven some of them to perform corrupt acts.
According to the government, about one million employees have been punished due to graft and corruption.
Bloggers in Sino Weibo expressed their opinion on the matter. One blogger said, "What's the point? If you can't get in, your relatives will look down on you. If you do get in, then your relatives will hassle you on a daily basis to pull strings for them."
There was one user who disagreed. He said, "Many of those applying do so because they really can't find a job, or their current job is not good, it's got nothing to do with corruption."