The central government will recruit 34,430 college graduates this year to take grassroots positions in lesser developed areas and the countryside, aiming to ease youths' employment pressure and vitalizing the rural areas.

The recruitment program is laid out in a notice recently released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Finance.

The newly recruited graduates will be dispatched to grassroots government bodies to take public services positions on education, agriculture, healthcare and rural vitalization. The lesser developed areas in western and northeastern provinces as also the border provinces get priority in employing these newly recruited graduates.

The service period for college graduates joining the program usually lasts about two years. They will get a financial allowance, housing and transport subsidies during their service period. The allowance and subsidies vary from area to area. For example, the allowance from central government is 12,000 yuan ($1,670) per person each year for graduates serving in eastern provinces, while it is 40,000 yuan for those serving at Xizang autonomous region and several prefectures and areas in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region because of the local harsher working conditions.

College graduates finishing their services will get preferential treatment in taking the civil servant examination, entrepreneurship or applying for further education.

The recruitment will be finished by the end of August and the newly recruited graduates are projected to take up their posts in September, as reported by Xinhua News Agency.

The central government first initiated the recruitment program in 2006. Figures from the human resources ministry show that from 2021 — when the central government started the fourth round of the program — about 165,000 college graduates have been dispatched to serve at the grassroots level and have contributed to optimizing the local talent structure, vitalizing rural areas and improving local authorities' governance ability.