Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 1st Quarter 2024
Statistics based on administrative records and surveys of individual public sector bodies carried out by the Scottish Government and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is a snapshot of employment as at March 2024.
Key points
Summary - based on headcount data:
- in March 2024, there were 605,600 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, accounting for 23.3% of total employment[1].
- in March 2024, employment in the public sector was 7,050 (1.2%) more than in March 2023.
- when major reclassifications are excluded, the public sector increased by around 7,000 (1.1%) between March 2023 and March 2024[2].
- of the total 605,600 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, 548,200 (90.5%) were employed in the devolved public sector in March 2024. This was 6,630 (1.2%) more than in March 2023.
- between March 2023 and March 2024, employment in the devolved public sector increased by:
- 6,200 (3.4%) in the NHS
- 10 (0.0%) in Local Government
- 510 (1.9%) in the Devolved Civil Service
- 570 (2.6%) in Other Public Bodies
- 480 (6.1%) in Public Corporations
- while employment in the devolved public sector decreased by:
- 720 (-5.5%) in Further Education Colleges
- 430 (-1.5%) in Police and Fire Related Services
- in March 2024, there were 57,400 people employed in the Reserved Public Sector in Scotland. This was 420 (0.7%) more than in March 2023. The Reserved Public Sector accounts for 9.5% of total public sector employment in Scotland.
- between March 2023 and March 2024, employment within the Reserved Public Sector increased in Other Public Sector[3] by 250 (1.2%) and increased in the Reserved Civil Service by 170 (0.6%).
[1] Estimates for total employment and private sector employment are based on the Labour Force Survey, ONS. ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates for July to September 2022 onwards were reweighted in February 2024, causing a step change discontinuity. Therefore, the LFS reweighting exercise creates a break in the series between June 2022 and September 2022 for regional total employment and regional private sector employment. LFS estimates are designated as official statistics in development.
[2] Further details on major reclassifications are provided on page 7 and on the About public sector employment statistics page of the Scottish Government website.
[3] Public corporations, public sector financial institutions and public bodies have been combined into ‘other public sector’ to ensure individual organisation employment figures are not disclosed.
Contact
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Email: LMStats@gov.scot
Telephone: 0131 244 6773
Post:
Labour Market Statistics
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Glasgow
G2 8LU
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