Recently, the relaxation of the age limit for civil servant recruitment in many cities in Shandong has attracted attention. In an announcement issued by Jinan on April 3, the age limit for the recruitment of grassroots civil servants for "local talents" is under 40 years old (under 45 years old for especially outstanding talents). Some commentators called it "breaking the 35-year-old threshold". In fact, in the same period last year, Jinan also issued the announcement, and there were strict restrictions on the scope of applicants.
April 7, #公务员部分岗位年龄调整到40周岁#的话题在各个平台登上热搜. Among them, the "Economic Daily" published an article saying that in recent years, the call for breaking the age threshold for job hunting has become higher and higher. The age limit not only infringes on the rights and interests of workers in equal employment, but also is not conducive to the reasonable development and full utilization of human resources, and also violates relevant laws and regulations. Some regions are also trying to rectify this phenomenon, and this year, Henan, Shandong and other provinces have adjusted the age of some civil servants to 40 years old, which has played an exemplary role in breaking the 35-year-old career threshold and helping to change age discrimination in the workplace.
In fact, relaxing the age threshold for public examinations for highly educated fresh graduates is not a recent policy. In 2005, the recruitment of civil servants in Sichuan has been relaxed to 40 years old, and since 2011, Hubei, Tianjin, Sichuan and other places and national civil servants have also relaxed the recruitment age of fresh master's students to 40 years old, starting from 2023, most provinces have clearly relaxed the age limit for master's and doctoral graduates to 40 years old, and Xinjiang has relaxed the age of fresh master's and doctoral students to 45 years old for positions in counties (cities, districts) and below.
Shandong is relaxed to under the age of 45 only for outstanding village party organization secretaries
Recently, many cities in Shandong have issued announcements on the recruitment of grassroots civil servants for local talents. Among them, Jinan recruited 16 people, Qingdao recruited 17 people, Weifang currently recruited the most, 29 people, followed by Linyi, recruiting 27 people. Many places have confirmed that the written test will be held on April 20. Judging from the recruitment information, the age limit for some positions in Shandong to recruit civil servants in many places this year has been generally relaxed to 40 years old, which is a major highlight.
On April 3, the Jinan Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security issued the "Announcement on the Recruitment of Grass-roots Civil Servants by Examination", proposing to adopt the methods of organizational recommendation, unified recruitment, and merit-based recruitment, and implement the recruitment of grass-roots civil servants for local outstanding talents. In the announcement, the recommended candidates are over 18 years old and under 40 years old (born between April 1983 and April 2006), and those who are particularly outstanding village party organization secretaries and urban community party organization secretaries apply for the examination are relaxed to 45 years old (born after April 1978).
Although some commentators believe that this is a new measure to "break the 35-year-old threshold", it can be noted that this measure is not only launched this year.
For example, in 2023, 2022, and 2021, Jinan City has issued documents to recruit grassroots civil servants for local talents, and the age range is the same as this year.
In addition, there are strict restrictions on the number of applicants for this recruitment. According to the aforementioned announcement, only those who have been recommended and approved by the organization can register for the exam. The scope of recommendation is mainly for those working in townships, neighborhoods, village committees, and communities. The document clearly recommends personnel, and limits outstanding village party organization secretaries, urban community party organization secretaries, and other personnel, and there are a number of conditions and restrictions.
That is, this type of recruitment is more like a selection channel within the system.
Fresh master's and doctoral students applying for civil servants are generally allowed to reach the age of 40
On the whole, the age limit of 35 years old is still generally used in the recruitment of civil servants in China, and the age limit is relaxed to 40 years old for fresh graduate students in some regions.
According to incomplete statistics from Nandu reporters, since 2011, some positions in provincial-level organs and their directly affiliated institutions in Shandong Province have recruited civil servants, and the age range has been limited to "over 18 years old, under 35 years old, and under 40 years old for fresh master's and doctoral students". The recruitment age of civil servants in Jinan, Qingdao, Weifang, Zibo and other regions in Shandong Province has been relaxed to 40 years old since 2011, which is consistent with the change in the recruitment age at the provincial level.
According to incomplete statistics, Henan, Guangdong, Hubei, Tianjin and other provinces have also relaxed the age limit for graduate students in recent years. However, for people other than those who are not graduates of the current master's and doctoral programs, 35 years old is still generally used as the age limit.
And some positions have stricter age limits. According to the "Announcement on the Recruitment of Civil Servants in the 2024 Examination of Guangdong Province", "the age for applying for the positions of people's police (judicial police) in public security organs, courts, procuratorates and prisons at all levels above the prefecture level and the front-line management institutions of the drug rehabilitation system is 18 to 30 years old, and the age is relaxed to 35 years old for those who apply for such positions in 2024 for master's and doctoral students with the highest academic qualifications, as well as for special positions such as forensic medicine and prisons in public security organs and prisons, prison doctors and psychological corrections in front-line management institutions of the drug rehabilitation system."
Voices of the representative members
It is proposed to abolish the age limit of 35 years for civil servants to apply for the examination
Nandu reporters noticed. In recent years, the topic of "suggesting that the civil service examination break the 35-year-old threshold" has been on the hot search many times.
In 2007, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and other departments formulated the "Regulations on the Recruitment of Civil Servants", which requires that applicants for civil servants must be "over 18 years old and under 35 years old". In 2019, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee revised the Regulations on the Recruitment of Civil Servants, stipulating that with the approval of the competent departments of civil servants at or above the provincial level, the age and educational requirements of civil servants applying for the examination may be appropriately adjusted.
Calls for the abolition of the 35-year-old age limit have appeared in the National People's Congress and the National People's Congress for several consecutive years. In 2021, Jiang Shengnan, then a deputy to the National People's Congress, suggested that the age limit for national civil servants to apply for the examination under the age of 35 should be abolished. In 2023, Lu Guoquan, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of the General Office of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, suggested exploring the relaxation of the 35-year-old limit for the civil service examination. In 2024, Meng Man, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and a professor at the School of History and Culture of Minzu University of China, suggested that the 35-year-old threshold for civil service selection be abolished.
Some experts believe that the state's relaxation of the age limit for civil servants can bring an exemplary role to enterprises. Although there is no clear evidence of its effectiveness, there have been calls from experts for the government to lead the way. Academia has also begun to discuss policy approaches to regulate ageism. Liu Qingsheng, a professor at Fuzhou University's School of Law, once wrote an article analyzing that laws and regulations such as the Labor Law and the Employment Promotion Law could be amended to include provisions prohibiting age discrimination, and at the same time, set exceptions for some special industries that need to adjust the age limit. In addition to legislative measures, he believes that to achieve the prohibition of age discrimination in employment, it is necessary to improve the employability of middle-aged and elderly workers, and at the same time establish a dismissal protection system for middle-aged and elderly workers to prevent employers from discriminating against middle-aged and elderly workers. In addition, measures should be put in place to take into account the economic interests of employers, for example, the government could provide subsidies for vocational training for middle- and high-age workers.
Expert opinion
"I hope that the newly recruited people will be trained in serving the people"
"I think that the elimination of the age limit is conducive to eliminating the anxiety of excessive involution among young people from the system, and giving everyone more time to freely regulate the pace of life. Zhang Zhihong, an associate professor at the Zhou Enlai School of Government at Nankai University, believes that on the other hand, people with more social practical experience will be more accurate in their goals when they re-enter the public sector, and they will be more aware of why they choose this job. With the development of the domestic market and the optimization of self-organization, a large number of enterprises and social organizations have also cultivated a lot of outstanding comprehensive talents, if the leap between enterprises and government departments can be realized, it is very conducive to mutual learning between organizations.
The recruitment of civil servants continues to tilt towards the grassroots level, which is to hope that these newly recruited people can get experience in the process of contacting and serving the people, and lay the foundation for further talent selection.
Integration: Chen Xin
Written by: Intern Zheng Chengcheng Nandu reporter Song Chenghan from Beijing
Source: Economic Daily Red Star News
Peninsula Metropolis Daily