The Beijing municipal government plans to recruit 3,000 university graduates to work as assistants to village heads or Party secretaries in its suburban rural areas this year.

The municipal government has promised that those who have been recruited through examinations will receive a monthly salary of 2,000 yuan in the first year, increasing to 2,500 yuan the second year and 3,000 yuan the third year, provided their performance reaches the required standards, according to Sun Zhenyu, deputy director of the municipal personnel department.

Applications are open from February 1 to March 15 and the applicants can go to the website of the department www.bjbys.com for further information, said Sun.

The program to recruit "village officials" among college graduates began last year in Beijing when 2,000 graduates were selected from more than 10,000 applicants to work in villages.

Nearly 5 million college students will graduate this summer and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security has warned 1.4 million of them may not find a job.

The situation is worse in Beijing where an estimated 200,000 graduates will pour out of universities to compete for the 113,000 jobs available in the capital, but there are many vacancies in the countryside and in grassroots units, according to Sun.

"We hope college graduates will seize the chance to use their experience and knowledge in rural villages to start their careers, " he said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 27, 2007)