A RECORD-HIGH 2 million candidates are expected to register and apply for China's annual civil servant recruitment exam to be administered in November, an expert said.

National-level government agencies, their affiliated public institutions and local branches will recruit 20,839 civil servants in 2013, nearly 3,000 more than this year.

However, more vacancies does not mean applicants will have a better chance of securing a position, as the number of applicants may top 2 million, up from 1.3 million last year, Li Yongxin, chief research fellow of Zhonggong Education, a training company focused on civil service applicants, said yesterday.

Therefore, only one in every 90 applicants will get the jobs in the end, Li said.

As China's employment situation in recent years has become increasingly grim, civil servant posts, which the public considers to be decent and stable jobs, have become the most sought-after.

Last year, a single vacancy in the National Energy Administration attracted 4,961 qualified applicants.

Meanwhile, more qualifications are being imposed on applicants, including requiring work experience at or below the county-level for applicants to central- and provincial-level posts, which will leave new college graduates in a position to apply for 75 percent of available posts.

While a great number of college graduates flock to big cities for jobs, the recruitment program encourages fresh graduates to go to grassroots by offering more vacancies at lower levels of government.

More than 2,000 new posts will be offered by local, central government-managed branches of the tax administration, customs, border management, marine affairs and postal service agencies, Li revealed.