Scottish Government Workforce Statistics December 2019

The latest quarterly Scottish Government Workforce Information statistics have been published today by Scotland’s Chief Statistician. These statistics cover the numbers of workers, staff sickness rates, and the diversity of staff up to the most recent quarter ending December 2019.

The statistics show that:

• at the end of December 2019 there were 6,827 full time equivalent (FTE) directly employed staff, an increase on last year’s figure of 6,170 at the end of December 2018.  The percentage of directly employed staff in permanent (98%) and temporary (2%) categories was similar to last year (December 2018: 97%, 3%)

• there was a 3.3% increase in the number (headcount) of contingent (non-directly employed) workers, from 1,320 at the end of December 2018, to 1,364 at the end of December 2019, an increase of 44 workers

• the staff sickness level was 8.0 average working days lost (AWDL) per staff year in the 12 month period ending December 2019 (3.6% of working days were lost) compared with 7.7 AWDL for the same period last year

• just over half (53.4%) of the workforce were female, compared to 46.6% male. The proportion of female staff is similar to the same period last year (52.1% December 2018)

• at the end of December 2019, the majority of staff were aged between 30 and 59, broken down as follows: 30-39 (24.1%),  40-49 (27.2%), 50-59 (25.3%) . 17.5% were aged 16-29, and 6.0% were aged 60 or over

• the proportion of directly employed staff providing diversity information on sexual orientation, disability and religion or belief has increased since the same period last year

Background

The full set of statistics released today were produced in accordance with professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

The statistics contain quarterly data from March 2012 to December 2019 and present:

• full time equivalent numbers and headcounts in each directly employed staff category
• headcounts of contingent workers engaged in work for the Scottish Government
• sickness absence levels of directly employed staff, headcounts of directly employed staff by age, disability status, ethnicity, gender, marital/civil partnership status, religion or belief, and sexual orientation

The Scottish Government uses the data internally for monitoring the performance of its workforce. Other expected users of the data in this publication are likely to include the general public and media for information about the Scottish Government, and other government departments for comparative purposes.

Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff.

More information about the standards of official statistics in Scotland