People with certain skills in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, who want to join government agencies, will get almost three times the average income of a government employee the Nanjing-based Yangzi Evening Post reported.

"Government departments should send us their demands, and we will recruit the necessary people," Luo Ruiqin, a division chief with the Yangzhou personnel bureau, told China Daily yesterday.

If hired, these people will act as government technocrats, but will have no administrative titles or administrative power.

They will have to sign contracts for one to three years. The salary scale is 50,000 yuan ($7,500) to 140,000 yuan a year, Luo said.

Professionals in law, finance, trade, urban planning, and foreign languages are being sought. The average annual income of civil servants in Yangzhou is 50,000 yuan.

"The salaries being offered are fair, as these people have skills that are in demand," Li Zhenfeng, an official with the Yangzhou government, said.

"Besides, these professionals will not be entitled to pensions," Li said.

Yangzhou is not the first city to introduce such a recruitment drive. Since 2003, Jilin, Shanghai, and Hangzhou have tried to attract top professionals with high salaries.

Xia Xueluan, a professor with the department of sociology at Peking University, said Yangzhou's decision is a good attempt at reform.

"The key is how to connect the government with social resources, including human resources," he said.

Government efficiency requires experience and an emancipation of minds, he said.

"We should borrow ideas from the workings of other companies," Xia said.

(China Daily July 24, 2008)