Statistics show that the number of applicants for the national civil service examination, commonly known as the "national examination", exceeded 1 million for the first time in 2009. (Internet)
Author: Chen Jing
What are the hottest jobs in China this year? The answer may surprise many: a clerk at a post office in Tibet.
Registration for the annual Chinese national civil service examination closed on Sunday, with the total number of applicants exceeding 2.02 million, a record high. On average, more than 60 people compete for each position, with more than 20,000 people applying for the hottest positions.
This one-of-a-kind job is the position of "first-level chief clerk and below" of the Postal Administration of Ali District, Tibet. Because there are no restrictions on the professional, grass-roots work experience and political outlook of the candidates, this position with relaxed conditions has become a fragrant feast for many candidates to compete for, and even once rushed to the Weibo hot search list. Some netizens quipped: "Do the people who signed up see this 'Ali' as Ma Yun's 'Ali'?" ”
Two weeks earlier, another news related to job recruitment was also on the hot search, saying that in the teacher job interview of a famous middle school in Shenzhen, four of the seven interviewers who applied for biology teachers were doctors, and the ones who applied for chemistry teachers were all doctors. Of the 17 teachers who were finally admitted, only one had a master's degree, and the others all had a doctorate degree. Just three years ago, of the 24 recent graduates the school recruited, only three were PhDs.
Jobs in remote areas, which were once regarded as difficult, are now being scrambled by tens of thousands of people; phDs, which are tacitly accepted by society to engage in research work, are competing to apply for grass-roots teachers. When did the iron rice bowl within the system become so attractive to Young Chinese?
Statistics show that the number of applicants for the national civil service examination, commonly known as the "national examination", exceeded 1 million for the first time in 2009, and the number has increased or decreased since then, especially in the past two years. Last year, more than 1.57 million people passed the national examination qualification examination, an increase of 9.72% over 2019, while at least 1.83 million people passed the examination this year, an increase of 15.8% year-on-year.
The outbreak of the crown pneumonia epidemic is believed to be an important opportunity for many people to realize the superiority of work in the system. China has so far adopted a strict "zero clearance" policy, which has put the tourism, catering, film and other industries under great pressure and variables. After China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism called a halt to inter-provincial tourism last weekend, some practitioners posted that due to the delay in the industry, they were forced to change careers due to the pressure of livelihood, and "have registered for this year's national examination."
Compared with these precarious occupations, the positions within the system of drought and flood protection are undoubtedly the most secure jobs during the epidemic. Positions in the system of civil servants, state-owned enterprise employees and teachers in large cities are more conducive to solving the problems that hinder young people's settlement in the local area, such as hukou and housing, and it is no wonder that many people are eager for iron rice bowls.
The "Kaogong fever" set off in the past two years is in contrast with China's "under-sea tide" in the early 1990s. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Social Security of the Chinese, in 1992, 120,000 civil servants across the country resigned to invest in the sea, and more than 10 million civil servants left their jobs without pay to start a business. These out-of-system trendsetters caught up with the beginning of the Chinese market economy, and many of them made a fortune and further promoted the rapid development of private economic enterprises.
The background of the "tide under the sea" 30 years ago was that the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping reiterated the necessity of reform and opening up in his speech during his southern tour, encouraging people to "boldly try and boldly break through." Today, 30 years later, China is shifting from "allowing some people to get rich first" to pursuing "common prosperity" and moving toward the centennial goal of "a socialist modern power".
Under the banner of common prosperity, officials have struck a blow at a number of industries that have derailed their development. From the "crackdown on the disorderly expansion of capital" against Internet giants, to the "annihilation" of the off-campus training industry, to the rectification of the entertainment circle and the online game industry... This series of heavy hammers has caused the original rapid development of the industry to wither away rapidly, and many glamorous "big factories" white-collar workers have faced the unemployment crisis overnight.
Industrial policies have changed rapidly, career prospects are unpredictable, and the anxiety of China's private economic workers has intuitively transformed into the pursuit of an iron rice bowl. Although the income in the system is not necessarily higher than that of emerging industries, it is undoubtedly the safest and safest choice to bear the pressure of "996" work, nor to worry about being laid off tomorrow, and to have a decent social status.
Under the variables and pressures brought about by the epidemic and the new round of social reform, the "iron rice bowl" has once again become the object of everyone's scramble, reflecting the contradictory situation facing China's economic and social development. The government has set Zhejiang, where the private economy is developed, as a demonstration zone for common prosperity, but the enthusiasm for the development of private enterprises has been repeatedly hit; the government has listed basic research as the focus of development in the next five years, but it cannot retain the academic elite who should focus on research... To solve these problems, we should not just ask young people why they only pursue a stable life and not devote themselves to entrepreneurship and innovation.
It is not a bad thing for doctors to become teachers at the grassroots level, but it helps to inject different vitality into the education industry. But if the best way out for a Ph.D. is to go to a middle school teacher, it can only be said that it is the sadness of the higher education and scientific research industry. In the same way, the introduction of excellent talents into the system helps to improve the level of administration; but the phenomenon of everyone chasing the iron rice bowl is not a praise for an era, but more like a wake-up call.