National Statistics Publication - Public Sector Employment in Scotland - Q3 2013

Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 3^rd Quarter 2013

The statistics in this release are based on administrative records and surveys of individual public sector bodies carried out by the Scottish Government and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The publication includes information on public sector employment in Scotland with distinctions made for employment in devolved bodies and reserved bodies (located in Scotland).

Key Changes to the public sector affecting this publication:

Introduction of single services for Police and Fire in April 2013 and the reclassification of these services from local to central government:

This reclassification has resulted in approximately 29,000 staff (headcount) moving to the central government category from local government. Also, from Q2 onwards the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), previously known as the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) is included within the Police and Fire Services category rather than in Other Public Bodies category. See page 8 for more details.

Notable revisions to these statistics:

• Revised employment in the public sector financial institutions from Q2 2013 to reflect revisions made by the Office for National Statistics to the underlying data source for this information^[1].
• The inclusion of the Scottish Association of Citizens Advice Bureau in the public sector from Q2 2005.
• Inclusion of historic data for Glasgow 2014 from Q2 2007.

More information is available on the Public Sector Employment Websection.

Some of the key points (based on headcount) are as follows:

• In Q3 2013 there were 579,700 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, a decrease of 1,200 (0.2%) since Q3 2012. This level is similar to that seen in 2003.
• There were 2,549,000 people employed in Scotland in Q3 2013, an increase of 74,600 (3.0%) over the year. In Q3 2013 public sector employment accounted for 22.7% of total employment, down from 23.5% in the previous year and the lowest proportion seen since the series began in 1999.
• In Q3 2013, there were 1,968,900 people employed in the private sector in Scotland, an increase of 75,800 (4.0%) over the year. Private sector employment in Scotland accounts for 77.3% of total employment; the highest proportion seen since the series began in 1999.
• Of the total 579,700 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, 83.6% are accounted for by employment in the devolved public sector. Employment in the devolved public sector has decreased by 1,600 (-0.3%) over the year to 484,400 in Q3 2013.
• 16.4% of the total public sector employment relates to employment in the reserved public sector in Scotland. The reserved sector saw an increase of 400 in headcount between Q3 2012 and Q3 2013.
• The decrease in the devolved public sector was driven by a decrease in employment in local government. However much of the decrease in employment in local government is the result of the police and fire services reclassification noted above. Over the year, employment in local government decreased by 32,600 (11.7%) while employment in central government saw a corresponding increase of 28,400 (11.4%).
• Within the reserved public sector the slight increase in employment was driven by changes in the public sector financial institutions (up 3,200)^[1]. Excluding these banks, the reserved public sector would have seen a decrease of 2,800 (-4.3%) over the year. There were also decreases in employment in the reserved civil service (-1,100), public corporations (-800), the armed forces (-600) and public bodies (-300).
• Overall, if banks were not included in the public sector, total public sector employment would have decreased by 4,400 (0.8%), rather than 1,200 (0.2%) over the year. The total number of people employed in the public sector in Scotland would be similar to that seen in 1999.

N.B. Financial institutions are only included in the reserved public sector.

Public Sector Employment Websection

This Websection is in addition to this National Statistics publication

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment

It contains detailed information including:

• Employment levels for public bodies in Scotland broken down by age (Q1 2012 and Q1 2013). Information by age is considered Official Statistics rather than National Statistics due to it being a new data series.
• Local government employment by local authority for the current quarter. A time series of total local government employment back to Q1 1999 and back to Q1 2011 by gender.
• Detailed tables showing a full time series of data - all quarters back to Q1 1999 - are also available to download.
• Background notes outlining the methodology used to compile this series.

UK Comparisons

Public Sector Employment for Government Office Regions and Nations of the UK can be found in the Office for National Statistics Publication.

Comparisons to UK data should be made using non-seasonally adjusted UK data.

See the regional tables at http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pse/public-sector-employment/index.html.