Chinese government is drafting new recruitment rules which will terminate the "iron rice bowl" system of lifelong employment in civil service this year.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security will establish new management rules including ones for resignation and dismissal provisions of civil servants this year, China Daily reported Thursday.

A draft of the guidelines was presented last year and a pilot system for recruiting civil servants was launched in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, and Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province.

"The new appointment system is designed to transform the civil service into an incentive-oriented, performance-driven career option," Deputy Minister Yang Shiqiu said on Tuesday.

"Incentives and punishments will be introduced to improve the performance of civil servants, and a six-exit system will be introduced in the future," he said.

The "six exits" will include retirement, transferring out, resignation, firing and discontinued contract, he said.

A total of 90,000 civil servants were recruited last year, 86 percent of whom were graduates. In 1992, just 30 percent of new recruits were graduates, the ministry said.

More than 700,000 people sat the national civil servants exam in November to compete for 13,500 government jobs.

(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2009)