Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 2nd 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 June 2024.


Reserved Public Sector Employment in Scotland; Headcount

The reserved public sector employment includes:

  • Reserved Civil Service
  • Armed Forces
  • Other Public Sector (which covers Public Sector Financial Institutions, Non-Departmental Bodies and Other Bodies)

The number of people employed in the reserved public sector in June 2024 was 47,500. This was 9,460 (-16.6%) lower than in June 2023. This decrease is mainly due to an organisation being reclassified from the public to the private sector[1].

Figure 7: Reserved Civil Service employs the largest number of people in the Reserved Public Sector

Breakdown of Reserved Public Sector employment (Headcount) in Scotland as at June 2024

Figure 7. tree map of reserved Public Sector Employment showing relative size of public bodies

Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 2 2024.

Note: Totals may not equal the sum of the individual parts due to rounding.

The decrease over the year in the overall reserved public sector headcount was due to the following changes (changes are given from June 2023 to June 2024):

  • employment in Other Public Sector decreased by 9,580 (-44.9%) to 11,700
  • employment in the Armed Forces decreased by 240 (-2.3%) to 10,000
  • employment in the Reserved Civil Service increased by 360 (1.4%) to 25,700

Figure 8: ‘Other Public Sector’ had the largest percentage decrease over the year in the Reserved public sector which was due to National Accounts classification changes

Change in Reserved Public Sector employment (Headcount) in Scotland from June 2023 to June 2024

Figure 8. bar chart showing annual percentage change for reserved Public Sector bodies

Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 2 2024.

The decrease in the Other Public Sector category is mostly due to the reclassification of an organisation from the public sector to the private sector.

 

[1] The NatWest Group plc (including Royal Bank of Scotland plc) was reclassified to the private sector with effect from 1 June 2024, contributing to the decrease in employment in Other Public Sector. The ONS published a media statement and a blog to accompany this re-classification.

Contact

For enquiries about this publication please contact:

Labour Market Statistics,
Office of the Chief Economic Adviser
Telephone: 0131 244 6773,
E-mail: LMStats@gov.scot

For general enquiries about Scottish Government statistics please contact:

Office of the Chief Statistician
E-mail: statistics.enquiries@gov.scot

Back to top