韓國首爾：公務員考試“擠破頭”

Tens of thousands of South Koreans will descend on the capital Seoul this weekend to apply for "iron ricebowl" jobs with the city government, officials said Thursday.

Special package tours and an extra train service have been laid on to cater for the rush of people sitting an annual qualifying exam on Sunday.

Civil service jobs still guarantee life-long (iron ricebowl) employment while layoffs are getting more common in private firms.

The city government said 85,000 people, including some 40,000 from the provinces, would be competing for 1,133 positions.

"The biggest merit that the civil service job has is undoubtedly job security," a Seoul city spokesman told reporters, also citing the "not that bad" pay and other fringe benefits.

The Seoul city government draws more job seekers than others because unlike other local authorities, it allows applicants from outside the city.

National rail operator KORAIL said it would lay on an extra train this Sunday from the southern city of Busan and tickets for it have already been sold out.

Tickets on regular high-speed train services to Seoul on Sunday morning were sold out weeks ago.

The city government holds exams for separate types of job on different days to ease congestion. The second exam on August 17 will attract some 43,000 applicants.

韓國首都首爾市的有關官員於本週四稱，數萬人將於本週末“進都”趕考，爭奪被喻爲“鐵飯碗”的政府公務員職位。

首爾市一年一度的政府公務員資格考試將於本週日舉行，目前韓國鐵路部門已做好相關準備，將推出套票和加開臨時列車迎接“趕考大軍”。

與眼下私營企業頻頻開人的狀況相比，政府公務員職位則是穩定而有保障，成爲衆人眼中的“鐵飯碗”。

據市政府介紹，今年將有85000人爭奪首爾市的共1133個公務員職位，其中包括4萬外省考生。

首爾市政府的一位發言人在接受記者採訪時說：“衆所周知，政府公務員的最大好處就是穩定。”另外，他說，不錯的薪酬和其它福利待遇也是其吸引人的地方。

首爾市政府公務員的報考盛況之所以超過其它省份，是因爲首爾市允許外地人報考，而不像其它地方政府僅限於當地人。

韓國鐵路運營部門KORAIL公司稱，他們將於本週日加開一輛從南部城市釜山開往首爾的臨時列車，目前這趟列車的車票已售完。

此外，所有於本週日早晨抵達首爾的高速列車車票也已於數週前售完。

爲避免考生過於集中，首爾市政府按照不同的職位類別設置了不同的考試日期。今年的第二場考試將於下月17日舉行，參考人數預計將達到約43000人。