A record high of 1.46 million people qualified to take the national civil servant exam for the year 2010. That was about 16 times the number of 87,000 people who qualified in 2003, according to xinhuanet.com.

Most Chinese consider civil service jobs to be stable and rewarding. Competition for them has increased each year. This year, only one out of every 93 people who will take the exam is expected to be offered a job next year in the central government or those organizations directly attached to it.