Scottish Government Workforce Statistics June 2023

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 June 2023.

The statistics show that:

• At the end of June 2023 there were 8,739 full time equivalent (FTE) directly employed staff, an increase on last year’s figure of 8,666 (0.8%) at the end of June 2022. The percentage of directly employed staff in permanent (99%) and temporary (1%) categories was similar to last year (June 2022: 98%, 2%).

• There was an 19.9% decrease in the number (headcount) of contingent (non-directly employed) workers from the end of June 2022 (2,023) to the end of June 2023 (1,621), a decrease of 402 workers.

• The staff sickness level was 7.9 average working days lost (AWDL) per staff year in the 12 month period ending June 2023, compared with 7.8 AWDL for the 12 month period ending June 2022. This equates to a loss of 3.5% of working days in the 12 month period ending June 2023.

• Just over half (56.4%) of the workforce were female, compared to 43.6% male. The proportion of female staff is slightly lower than the same period last year (56.5% June 2022).

• At the end of June 2023 the majority of staff were aged between 30 and 59, broken down as follows: 30-39 (27.5%), 40-49 (26.4%), 50-59 (23.2%), 16.4% were aged 16-29, and 6.6% were aged 60 or over.

• The proportion of directly employed staff providing diversity information for religion, ethnicity, and marital status has increased slightly since the same period last year.

• The proportion of directly employed staff declaring themselves as ‘Lesbian, gay, bisexual, plus’ has increased slightly since the same period last year. The proportion of directly employed staff declaring themselves as straight has reduced slightly since the same period last year.

Background

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

The full statistics are available on the Scottish Government's website.

The statistics contain quarterly data from March 2012 to June 2023 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, sex, 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 on the standards of official statistics in Scotland.