PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYMENT IN SCOTLAND STATISTICS FOR 1st QUARTER 2014

Public Sector Employment In Scotland Statistics For 1st Quarter 2014

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:

On 30th April 2014, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced the reclassification of Lloyds Banking Group plc. (and subsidiaries) as a former Public Corporation into the private sector (with effect from March 2014). Subsidiaries of Lloyds Banking Group plc. include: Scottish Widows Bank plc. TSB Bank plc., Lloyds Bank plc., Black Horse Limited, AMC Bank Limited and Bank of Scotland plc. This reclassification has resulted in approximately 19,400 staff (headcount) moving into the private sector. More information on this can be found in Classification of Lloyds Banking Group and Subsidiaries

The reclassification of Lloyds Banking Group plc. has meant it is now no longer possible to produce a separate public sector employment series excluding public sector financial institutions due to disclosure rules.

ONS announced the reclassification of both Royal Mail Group plc. (effective from October 2013) and Direct Line Group (effective from September 2013), as former Public Corporations. This resulted in approximately 12,400 staff (headcount) moving into the private sector.

Estimates relating to Scotland’s Rural College have been revised this quarter following guidance from sponsor body. The transfer of FE staff from the three colleges involved in the merger have been transferred from Further Education to Other Public Bodies as of Q4 2012 rather than Q2 2013 as previously reported.

More information is available on the Public Sector Employment Websection.

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

• In Q1 2014 there were 545,200 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, a decrease of 36,000 (6.2%) since Q1 2013. This level is slightly lower to that seen in 1999, when the series began.
• There were 2,566,000 people employed in Scotland in Q1 2014, an increase of 60,900 (2.4%) over the year. In Q1 2014 public sector employment accounted for 21.2% of total employment, down from 23.2% in the previous year; the lowest proportion seen since the series began in 1999.
• In Q1 2014, there were 2,020,800 people employed in the private sector in Scotland, an increase of 96,900 (5.0%) over the year. Private sector employment in Scotland accounts for 78.8% of total employment; the highest proportion seen since the series began in 1999.
• Of the total 545,200 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, 89.4% are accounted for by employment in the devolved public sector. Employment in the devolved public sector decreased slightly (down 400 (0.1%)) over the year to 487,400 in Q1 2014.
• Over the year, employment in devolved public sector decreased in further education colleges by 200 (1.7%), other public bodies by 1,400 (9.0%) and local government by 30,800 (11.0%). The decrease in local government was a result of the transfer of police and fire services to central government of 28,700. Excluding the effects of police and fire services, local government would have seen a decrease of 2,000 (0.7%) in employment over the year to Q1 2014. Employment in devolved public sector saw increases in NHS by 2,200 (1.4%), in civil service by 300 (2.0%) and in public corporations by 700 (9.8%).
• In Q1 2014, there were 21,570 young people aged 16-24 in employment in the devolved public sector, accounting for 4.4% of total employment in this sector. This is an increase of 1,190 (0.2 percentage points) over the year. The areas of the devolved public sector which saw the largest increases in the proportion of 16-24 year olds in the total workforce over the last year were Scottish Government Core Directorates (excluding Agencies), which increased by 1.6 percentage points from 2.7% in Q1 2013 to 4.3% in Q1 2014, and Public Corporations which increased by 2.5 percentage points from 4.4% in Q1 2013 to 6.8% in Q1 2014.^[1]
• 10.6% of the total public sector employment relates to employment in the reserved public sector in Scotland. The reserved sector saw a decrease of 35,600 (38.1%) in headcount between Q1 2013 and Q1 2014. This was largely due to the reclassification of Lloyds Banking Group plc. (and subsidiaries) (19,400), as well as Royal Mail Group Limited and Direct Line Group plc. (12,400) in Q4 2013 out of reserved public corporation and into the private sector as highlighted in key changes section above.
• Employment within the reserved public sector decreased across nearly all categories over the year to Q1 2014. Employment decreased in civil service by 1,400 (5.0%), armed forces by 500 (4.8%) whereas public bodies remained unchanged. The reclassification of Lloyds Banking Group plc. into the private sector has meant it is no longer possible to produce a separate public sector financial institutions series due to disclosure rules. This has resulted in 13,500 staff moving from the separate public corporations and public sector financial institutions categories to the newly combined category.

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 devolved public bodies in Scotland broken down by age (Q1 2013 and Q1 2014). 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.