The first batch of government workers employed under a new system designed to change the civil service from a lifelong career to a performance-driven one, will soon start work in this city's Pudong New Area.

Civil servants for the six vacancies the local government released earlier this year have signed labor contracts with different government agencies in Pudong. The district is one of the first areas to introduce the new program to break the idea that a position in a government department will provide lifelong security.

It is an extension of the nation's decision earlier this year to have Pudong try the pilot scheme, and also part of pilot reforms going on in the area designed to inject new power to its rapid development and help it lead the nation.

China, which has about 5 million government workers, has asked cities including Shenzhen in Guangdong and Wenzhou in Zhejiang to start the pilot program.

The aim is to remove the "iron rice bowl" mindset still prevalent among those intending to idle their days away on a civil servant's position while enjoying a better-than-average salary and welfare packages.

Sources from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said regulations on the dismissal and resignation of civil servants are in the pipeline and will quite probably be released and adopted by the end of the year.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of applicants take the civil servant recruitment examination, one of the most heated tests in the nation.

The competition for the six vacancies in Pudong, including posts in financial planning, economic analysis, education management and venture capital investment, is tough, as 159 individuals sent applications.

More than 30 people vied for the hottest position of assistant director of the area's science and technology commission.

They will work at the positions for an initial employment period of up to three years. Performance checks are stricter and an easier exit mechanism is in place.

"The first batch of positions put forward in the new program were open for senior talented people excelling in a specific field and those who can hardly be nurtured by the government on its own," the area's personnel bureau's deputy director Wang Kairong told Xinmin Evening News in Shanghai.

"Pudong will keep exploring the new employment system and offer skilled professionals an opportunity to give full play to their talents and develop their careers," he said.

Li Yongjun, a former venture capital company employee who secured a position, said he expected a wider working platform to serve an entire industry rather than one company.

(China Daily June 10, 2008)