In China, the overall unemployment rate and youth unemployment rate remain high. In 2025, the number of applicants for the National Civil Service Exam reached a historic high of 3.25 million, with one position having a competition ratio as high as 16,702 to 1. Experts bluntly stated that this does not address the fundamental issues and that the civil service exam is essentially a formality.
The registration system for the 2025 National Civil Service Exam opened on October 15th at 8 a.m. and closed on October 24th at 6 p.m., with a total of 3,258,274 applicants, an increase of over 340,000 from the previous year, setting a new historical record.
However, the official announcement for the 2025 National Civil Service Exam revealed that only 39,721 people will be recruited this year, resulting in an average of 82 applicants competing for one position. In regions like Tibet, the competition is even more intense, with an average of 150 applicants vying for a single position. Notably, for the position of Level One Director and below at the China Vocational Education Association, there were 16,702 applicants competing for one position, a staggering ratio of 16,702 to 1.
Xu Zhen, a senior figure in the mainland capital markets, expressed to Epoch Times that China’s economy is in dire straits. By 2024, 460,000 companies had closed down nationwide, 3.1 million self-employed individuals had deregistered, leading to a wave of unemployment that directly impacted the existing job market. Additionally, the annual number of graduates has been steadily increasing, reaching 11.79 million in 2024 and expected to reach nearly 14 million by 2027.
She emphasized that the wave of unemployment is a nightmare for graduates, highlighting that the civil service exam fails to address the root issues and often involves covert dealings.
She alerted unemployed individuals and recent graduates to have a clear understanding of the Chinese economy, pointing out that the Chinese Communist Party’s actions, such as interest rate cuts, easing policies, and creating the “Joint Tax and Police Action Center”, are detrimental to the people and are the source of all their suffering.
Furthermore, Professor Sun Guoxiang from the Department of International Affairs and Business at South China University in Taiwan also noted that many local government officials in China are facing pay cuts, indicating the current economic and financial pressures.
“The fiscal pressures on local governments in China have been increasing in recent years, especially due to factors like the slowdown in the real estate market, pandemic-related expenditures, and increased debt burdens. The pay cuts reflect the government’s pressure to balance budgets by reducing expenditures, which also reveals the issues of reduced fiscal revenues and increased debt burdens at the local government level,” Sun Guoxiang pointed out. Despite the Chinese Communist Party implementing economic stimulus policies like infrastructure investments to support small and medium enterprises, their effectiveness remains limited, especially in terms of promoting youth employment.
He mentioned that small and medium-sized enterprises and private enterprises in China still face challenges in financing, and many industries have insufficient demand, affecting economic and employment growth. While some local government departments have begun promoting technical vocational education and encouraging young Chinese to work in rural or remote areas, or even venture into emerging industries like new energy, digital, and the economy, these sectors take time to mature, thus making it difficult to meet the significant demand of young people for stable employment in the short term.
He stated that the high youth unemployment rate, particularly the ongoing issue of employment for recent graduates, has driven many young people to see the civil service exam as their last stable option. This illustrates that the desire for a stable career outweighs concerns about pay cuts. The yearning for stability among young people also reflects the fragility and uncertainty of the job market, which may not be rapidly alleviated in the short term.