China will recruit a record high of more than 28,500 central government employees in 2018, and more than 80 percent of the jobs will be at agencies' local branches below county level.

Job seekers can sign up from Monday to Nov 8 for the national civil servants exam, or guokao, scheduled for Dec 10, according to the State Administration of Civil Service.

Many central government civil servants are retiring, leading to the large recruitment. These agencies recruited about 20,000 employees in 2013 and again in 2014, but the number grew to more than 22,000 in 2015 and then to more than 27,800 last year.