More than 1.5 million people across China have registered for this year's postgraduate entrance exam, with a record high of 260,000 in Beijing alone, Beijing Times reported.

Registration, which closed Monday, showed a year-on-year increase of 7 percent.

Analysts believe difficulty finding jobs and a trend toward rising postgraduate enrollment rates have driven registration up. Areas of shortage in the labor market, such as finance, economics, management and pedagogy, have attracted the most applicants.

(CRIENGLISH.com December 1, 2010)