Fresh graduates strive to be civil servants

To stop the preference for becoming civil servants and guide more young people to pursue their dreams, governments need to create a fairer environment for finding jobs and starting businesses, and to carry out reform on social welfare systems, says an article from People's Daily (excerpts below):

Edmund Phelps, the 2006 Nobel Prize-winning economist, recently claimed that many well-educated young people in China are rushing to work for governments as civil servants. This, he said, is a huge waste of talent.

From the point of economics, highly educated and innovative people are expected to conduct research and to start businesses, so as to inject vitality into the market and social development.

The status quo in China requires equal or more innovation and efforts from civil servants, because governments are expected to take the lead in carrying out arduous tasks during social transitions and economic reform.

But we do need to reflect on the strong desire for becoming civil servants among fresh graduates.

Some people think the phenomenon is attributed to the vested interests and privileges brought by some civil servant positions. But as the country is committed to fighting corruption and power abuse, those vested interests will not remain long.

A more alluring side of being a civil servant lies in the stability it can provide.

Given the huge wealth gap and the gaps in social welfare systems, young people dare not risk falling into a lower social class. Being a civil servant is rewarded with a stable salary as well as better welfare benefits.

The craze of striving to become civil servants reflects young people's anxiety and uncertainties about the market and their self-development.

Young people should have been pursuing their dreams with vast opportunities in the market. To curb the trend of "civil servant frenzy", governments are urged to create a fairer environment for the employment market and for young people to start businesses. Moreover, more efforts need to be diverted to a better and sustainable welfare system that is based on equal rights and equal opportunities.