Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for first quarter 2016

1. Total Employment and Public and Private Sector Employment in Scotland; Headcount (see Table 1)

Figure 1 provides a summary of total employment in Scotland and the breakdown of public and private sector employment. The public sector is defined according to the UK National Accounts Classifications Guide ^[1] .

Figure 1: Public and Private Sector Employment, Scotland, Q1 2016

Chart 1: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Headcount, Q1 1999 - Q1 2016, non-seasonally adjusted

Chart 1 shows that the number of people employed in the public sector in Q1 2016 was 1,200 (0.2%) above the level in Q1 1999. The number of people employed in the public sector has remained relatively constant since Q1 2014 with a slight increase in Q4 2014. Excluding the effects of major reclassifications ², the number of people employed in the public sector gradually increased to a peak in Q2 2006, decreased to Q3 2013 and has remained relatively constant since then.

Chart 2 shows the annual change in employment for the public and private sectors.

Chart 2: Annual Change in Employment by Main Sector, Headcount

Impact of Excluding Major Reclassifications from Public Sector

If the major reclassifications ^[2] were to be excluded from the public sector series, there would be estimated to be 532,200 people employed in the public sector in Q1 2016. This would account for 20.8% of the total employment in Scotland (this compares to 21.3% if major reclassifications are included).

Public Sector employment excluding the effects of the major reclassifications, would have decreased by 700 (-0.1%) over the year to Q1 2016 and increased by 5,100 (0.97%) since Q1 1999.

The major reclassifications are all included in the reserved public sector in Scotland; their impact in this sector is covered in section 4 of the publication.