A national survey by MyCOS HR Digital Information Co Ltd shows that only 25 percent of university students who will graduate in June had signed a contract by December 2009.

The average salary of fresh graduates with a bachelor's degree is only 2,172 yuan (US$318) nationwide, it shows. The survey also shows that unemployment is highest in some traditionally popular majors such as international trade, law, English and computer science.

An entry-level civil servant's entry salary can be as low as 1,000 yuan a month, but he or she also can get a housing allowance, transport subsidy, a cash allowance and basic staple foods and necessities and a bonus. It adds up.

Extras

Eric Liu, who works in a local tax bureau in Jiangsu Province, says that while his basic salary is only 1,200 yuan a month, he estimates that he actually gets more than 3,000 yuan, not counting staple foods and necessities. Eating lunch at the office canteen only costs 2-4 yuan and he takes the office shuttle to and from work.

The 2009 national civil service exam, for which registration began in November 2008, attracted 1.04 million approved applicants for 13,566 positions. (The written exam was held in December and those who passed then interviewed in February.)

The general passing rate was 1:77, although it differed for each job opening. It was the first time that the number of approved applicants reached one million.

And the 2010 national civil service exam is still ongoing. Written exams were taken last November, attracting 1.46 million, with a passing rate of 93 to 1. It is considered the most difficult exam in China now, far more difficult than the bar exam.

Interviews were held in late January and February. Physical exams are now underway.

"When I just started my bachelor's degree in 2001, it was said that the best students go for the foreign companies. Nobody ever thought about going into government service," recalls Liu, 27.

"But it suddenly became popular when I started my master's degree in 2005. I always hear the legend of some top students passing the civil service examination," he says.

"The civil service examination wouldn't be so popular if other jobs in society offered equally good income and opportunities to advance," says Su Hainan, head of the Institute for Labor and Wage Studies of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The ministry is responsible for managing the civil service system and exam; it's China's HR department.

Su attributes the increasing popularity of the civil service examination to the imbalance of the current social distribution structure: There are fewer job options for fresh graduates who want to do well financially - either join a big private or multinational firm, or take the civil service exam.

Su suggests gradually changing the job market structure and developing other jobs that parallel and even exceed official careers in terms of income level, social benefits and social status.

Since one ID is only allowed for registering for one position in the national exam, many applicants try their best to seek a position with fewer applications to ensure a higher passing rate. Often, they don't care about the job description.

"I didn't know, or I didn't really care about what I'm going to do in the job. I applied only because it was one of the few positions that match my major. I just wanted to get in," says the Jiangsu tax collector Liu.

Shocking odds

He is not alone. The most popular position in the 2009 national exam attracted 4,723 applicants for one vacancy. It was an entry level at the Infrastructure Construction Office of China Disabled Persons Federation that has almost no requirements.

On the other hand, some positions that require professional knowledge or willingness to locate in remote and less-developed areas don't get enough candidates. For example, a job in an earthquake bureau or weather center are much less competitive - they require specific knowledge and experience and lots of hard work; they are often in remote areas.

Jobs in government customs service and taxation bureaus are traditionally popular.

Many are attracted to these jobs by the rumored great social benefits, but Liu says it's not a job for everyone.

He has worked in the tax bureau for almost three years. He has wanted to change his job for more than a year, but the decision has been vetoed by his parents, who consider him crazy. None of Liu's relatives or friends is on his side either.

"They all think I'm crazy because millions of people want to get into the civil service now. In a time of economic crisis, this is like a golden job," says Liu, who holds a master's degree in computer science.

Liu took the civil service examination for job security, and he got it. He leads a much more relaxed life than most of his classmates, who went into IT or finance.

He doesn't get much pressure from his daily routine and rarely has to work overtime or on holidays. He doesn't have to worry about getting fired or transferred to a remote area.

The pay is not great, but not bad either, especially considering the benefits - he gets an allowance of several hundred yuan or daily necessities such as cooking oil, rice or meat on most public holidays. He gets a housing allowance, higher than average, and transport compensation. And most important, it is stable.

But he is bored.

Only a few months after he started, the job routine got tedious. He sees the next 50 years stretching ahead with no surprises at all.

"I will continue the boring tasks for years, and then get promoted when I'm old and experienced enough to begin a new, boring higher-level routine. And that will go on until I retire.

"Then I will continue leading a bland and stable life until I die," Liu says. "I'm completely unmotivated and I feel I'm losing mental ability every day."