China's personnel authority on Thursday issued rules to ensure
fair, transparent enrollment of civil servants.
Government positions have become increasingly popular among job
hunters.
The rules, released by the personnel ministries of the Communist
Party of China and the central government, ban employers of civil
servants from setting "requirements that are unrelated to the
nature of posts".
In 2005, the government issued a health standard that included
Hepatitis B carriers among eligible candidates for the civil
service and dropped old weight and height requirements.
The standard said Hepatitis B carriers were eligible to work for
the government so long as the infection did not progress to the
disease stage.
Despite this, Chinese job hunters, including those seeking
government posts, have long complained of discrimination on the
grounds of sex, age, religion, race or physical disability.
"Enrollment of civil servants has to follow the principles of
being open, fair, competitive and selective, with dual
consideration of the applicants' virtue and ability," said the
rules.
Government jobs are closed to those with criminal records or
sacked ex-civil servants, said the rules.
Applicants who are caught cheating in exams or violating
recruitment rules would be banned from applying for official posts
for five years.
Since China began organizing civil servant recruitment
examinations in 1994, civil service has become one of the most
popular professions of the country's job seekers because it offers
a stable income, social status and excellent welfare insurance.
In 2007, more than 530,000 applicants competed for 12,700
government jobs -- 42 people competing for each job on average.
This year, more than 800,000 applicants will sit for the civil
service examination in December, according to a statement on the
ministry website.
The most popular position, a post with the Ministry of
Agriculture, attracted more than 3,500 applicants, the website
said.
(Xinhua News Agency November 23, 2007)