Statistics reveal that over the past few years the number of people registering for civil service exams of all types has fallen. The scale of the drop was most shocking last year. The number of persons signing up for last year's ordinary exams and basiclevel special exams fell by 20,000 each. High-level exams fell 6,000 people. Even the foreign service and international news special exams, long popular among college grads, have fallen 100 persons a year for three years.

Why the drop? Wu Kuo-hsiung, director of the statistics office of the Ministry of Examination, says the main reason is private sector prosperity. From 1986 to 1987 the economy grew by 11.86%, the highest in nine years. Demand for labor has increased in every sector and raised salaries, pushing people to the private sector.

People are especially unwilling to work in government since the end-of-martial-law "earthquake."

After the lifting of martial law, civil servants suffered blows mainly from two sides. One was policy instability caused by too rapid change and a lack of clarity in the laws. Another side rose out of the "psychological lifting of martial law," raising consciousness of popular rights and leading to demands reasonable and unreasonable upon the government.

Agencies disturbed most by the rapid pace of change are those related to a series of social "fevers," such as the Environmental Protection Administration, the Council of Labor, the Government Information Office, and the police. Their workloads have become more complex and their personnel have been "raided" by the private sector in these areas.

In all these areas, the lifting of martial law has unleashed social demands, ranging from increases in requests for exit visas to increased labor-management disputes to mediate, a vastly larger media to oversee, and demands on police in terms of street demonstrations. The enforcers even become the targets, such as when GIO civil servants get attacked for closing down illegal MTV houses or police become the focus of demonstrators' wrath.

Though from overall statistics in recent years, there has been no striking change in the numbers of civil servants, (according to the Central Personnel Administration, last year only 1,061 persons resigned from their jobs, an increase of 25 from the previous year), "this is only the beginning," one official points out. If pressures increase, manpower will flow out more quickly.

Further, the laws civil servants are entrusted to enforce are themselves unclear. Ou Hsien-yu of the Council of Labor feels that, from his own experience, there are three main problem areas: first, where the rules used under martial law are no longer effective, but no new rules have been completed; second, where peacetime laws exist, but are outdated; third, where there is an utterly new issue, still in flux, and laws have not been mapped out.

Post-martial law attitudes among the people also bring pressure. One Kaohsiung civil servant said, "Every time I see the elected officials being so sharp in inter-pellations, I really think it's hopeless to be a government worker." People complain when government policy hurts their vested interests. Some even deliberately disregard the law as a form of protest. Wu Ting, dean of the Graduate School of Public Administration at National Chengchi University, thinks the reason public power is not effective is that martial law era laws haven't been "rationalized" to meet the current situation.

As for training, its a case of not being able to do what one wants to do. Government agencies are aware of the need for it, but with not even enough time to "put out fires," where's the time for training?

If the work environment of civil servants can't be changed overnight, what's to be done? Wei Yung, director of the Sun Yat-sen Institute on Policy Research and Development, says that many people were willing to become government officials in the past because the civil service played the leading role. Now elective bodies are on the rise. To improve morale in the civil service, the government should insure that their capacity to undertake public policy is raised, and the security of the implementers should be guaranteed.

The transitional post-martial law is the time for civil servants to perform at their best, but also for the people to encourage them.

[Picture Caption]

Salary adjustments, personnel "relding," petitions... there have been a lot of topics related to the civil service the past year or so.

Does the civil servant's career go like clockwork?

Relations between government employees and the public must be built on the basis of mutual respect.

The number of people registering for civil service exams is smaller, for a variety of reasons. (photo by Vincent Chang)

The workload has increased, public consciousness has changed.... These things have been blows to the civil service.

Getting professional training is the desire of many a public servant, but it seems an impossible task.

Does the civil servant's career go like clockwork?

Relations between government employees and the public must be built on the basis of mutual respect.

The number of people registering for civil service exams is smaller, for a variety of reasons. （photo by Vincent Chang）

The workload has increased, public consciousness has changed.... These things have been blows to the civil service.

Getting professional training is the desire of many a public servant, but it seems an impossible task.