Iron rice bowl sounds the alarm! The number of recent graduates applying for civil service has dropped by 81% in the past 10 years

Young people don’t like to hold on to the iron job! A report from the Budget Center of the Legislative Yuan pointed out that the total number of applicants for the National College Entrance Examination has dropped by 41.69% in the past 10 years. Among them, the number of applicants for fresh graduates has dropped from 17,491 to only 3,250, a decrease of 14,241, a decrease of 81.42%. Even the popularity of campus publicity and participation in the National Examination has also declined.

The Budget Center stated that in recent years, with the changes in the global situation, the advent of the era of artificial intelligence, and the trend of declining birthrates, competition for talents in the public and private sectors has become increasingly intensified. Government recruitment faces many challenges, among which the number and proportion of fresh graduate applicants has dropped particularly significantly, reflecting the challenges faced by the public service system in absorbing new young manpower.

The budget center pointed out that the number of applicants for the college entrance examination has dropped significantly in the past 10 years. The total number of applicants dropped from 92,385 in 2017 to 53,869 in 2026, a decrease of 38,516, a decrease of 41.6 9%; among them, the number of fresh graduates dropped from 17,491 in 2017 to 3,250 in 2026, a decrease of 14,241, or 81.42%, which is significantly higher than the overall number of applicants.

As for the ratio of the number of fresh graduates to the total number of applicants, it was 18.93% in 2017 and 19.82% in 2018. It will drop to 6.03% in 2026, a decrease of 12.90 percentage points. This shows that as the number of applicants for the college entrance examination continues to shrink in recent years, the number and proportion of fresh graduates taking the civil service examination has dropped particularly significantly.

The Budget Center stated that the Examination and Selection Department proactively sends letters to colleges and universities to apply for national examination promotions between September and October every year. Most of the students attending the lectures are juniors and seniors, and about 45 to 50 applications are accepted each year. In 2023, 51 schools applied and accepted applications, which dropped to 47 in 2025. The number of participants also dropped from 4,500 to 2,860, a decrease of 1,640 people, a decrease of 36.44%.