Beijing started recruiting thousands of university graduates to work as junior officials in rural areas who will help build a "new socialist countryside" and ease their own employment problems.

Beijing's municipal government plans to recruit 3,000 university graduates, 1,000 more than last year, to work as assistants to village heads or Party secretaries in its suburban rural areas.

"We hope university graduates will seize the opportunity to use their knowledge in rural villages and to start their careers," said Sun Zhenyu, deputy director of the personnel bureau.

The municipal government has promised the successful candidates a competitive monthly salary of 2,000 yuan (US$250) in the first year, 2,500 yuan the second year and 3,000 yuan the third year, provided their performance reaches the required standards, Sun has said.

The central government issued a circular in July 2005, calling on university graduates to seek jobs at grass-roots levels to satisfy the need professionals in rural areas and to ease unemployment in cities.

Beijing hired 2,000 university graduates to work in the countryside last year, Sun said.

Nationwide, about 150,000 university graduates found employment in rural areas last year, according to the Ministry of Education.

The ministry predicts 4.95 million students will graduate from institutions of higher learning this year, 820,000 more than last year. About 1.4 million of them --- three out of 10 --- are unlikely to find jobs when they graduate.

In Beijing, the number of university graduates is expected to reach an all-time high of nearly 200,000 this year, 20,000 more than last year. Less than half -- about 87,000 graduates -- are expected to offered jobs, according to the personnel bureau.

Working for the "grass roots" has long been seen as a meaningful way of serving the country, as did China's famous bare-foot doctors at the time of liberation.

Today many university graduates are heeding the country's call and in turn honing their skills and gaining good work experience as they contribute to the development of underprivileged towns and villages.

The central government launched the "new socialist countryside" initiative in 2005, in a bid to improve agricultural production, living standards and public administration in underdeveloped rural areas, where nearly 900 million of China's 1.3 billion people live.

Applications for jobs in Beijing's rural villages and townships can be submitted from Feb. 1 to March 15 at the Beijing Municipal Personnel Bureau or online at www.bjbys.com.

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2007)