BEIJING — China plans to recruit over 14,500 civil servants to work for 75 central government agencies and 20 institutions directly under them in the 2019 civil servant intake, the State Administration of Civil Service said on Oct 21.

Applications will be open from Oct 22 until Oct 31, with positions to be posted on authorized websites, the administration said.

The annual recruitment sees fewer vacancies this year than in 2017, in which more than 28,000 vacancies were on offer.

Candidates will need to take a national written exam, which is scheduled to be held in December across the country, while those applying for certain positions related to finance, public security, foreign affairs and other fields will need to take an additional professional skill test.

The majority of the positions in Party and government agencies above provincial level will require two years of grassroots work experience, according to the administration.

More than 1.1 million people took the national civil servant exam in 2017, an increase of 984,000 year on year.