Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for first quarter 2019

Summary

Key points (based on headcount data) include:

• In March 2019, there were 555,800 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, accounting for 20.8% of total employment.
• Between March 2018 and March 2019, employment in the public sector was 5,630 less than in March 2018. This is mainly due to Registered Social Landlords, often described as housing associations, being reclassified to the private sector from Q3 2018 onwards.
• When major reclassifications are excluded, the public sector increased between March 2018 and March 2019 by 10,030 (1.9%)^[1]. This change is mainly due to Cordia services moving back under Glasgow City Council services.
• Of the total 555,800 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, 90.1% were employed in the devolved public sector.
• 501,000 were employed in the devolved public sector in March 2019, 4,460 (0.9%) less than in March 2018^[2].
• Between March 2018 and March 2019, employment in the devolved public sector decreased in Public Corporations by 14,800 (63.8%)^[3] and increased in Further Education Colleges by 130 (0.9%), the NHS by 1,050 (0.6%), Other Public Bodies by 250 (1.6%) and Civil Service by 1,310 (7.5%), Police and Fire Related Services by 390 (1.4%) and Local Government by 7,200 (2.9%)^[4].
• 54,800 (9.9%) people in the public sector were employed in the reserved public sector in Scotland, 1,170 (2.1%) less than in March 2018.
• Between March 2018 and March 2019, employment within the reserved public sector decreased in Public Corporations & Public Sector Financial Institutions by 970 (8.8%) and in the Civil Service by 660 (2.6%), increased in Public Bodies by 460 (4.5%), and stayed the same for Armed Forces.

Youth employment in the devolved public sector^[5]

• In Q1 2019, there were 23,020 young people aged 16-24 in employment in the devolved public sector, accounting for 4.6% of total employment in this sector. This was the same as the proportion of young people in employment in the devolved public sector in Q1 2018 (4.6%).
• Over the year, the largest increase in number of people aged 16- 24 years was in local government (up 340) and Scottish Government Core Directorates (up 90) and the largest decreases were in Public Corporations (down 710) and the NHS (down 200).
• As a percentage of the workforce, the largest percentage of young people aged 16-24 years were employed in Scottish Government Core Directorates (7.4%, up 0.5 percentage points over the year), and Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal (7.0%, up 0.6 percentage points over the year).

About this publication

Major Reclassifications

The estimates of public and private sector employment published in this month’s release have been impacted by the reclassification of Scottish Registered Social Landlords, which are included in the private sector from September 2018 but are included in the public sector from September 2001 to June 2018. This reclassification has resulted in around 15,000 employees who were included in the public sector up until June 2018 being included in the private sector estimates for September 2018 onwards.

An outline of major reclassifications which have taken place in the Scottish public sector since 2013 are outlined here: https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment/PSEwebtables

A separate public sector series excluding the effects of major reclassifications has been included in this publication to show the impact of the reclassifications on the number of people employed in the public sector.

More information is available on the Public Sector Employment Web Section.

National Accounts Classifications

An outline of National Accounts classifications which have taken place in the Scottish public sector since 2015 are outlined here: https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment/PSEwebtables

Public Sector Employment Web section

The Public Sector Employment Web section provides additional information to this National Statistics publication http://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment

It contains detailed information including:

• Employment levels for public bodies in Scotland for 16-24 year olds (Q1 2013, Q1 2014, Q1 2015, Q1 2016, Q1 2017, Q1 2018 and Q1 2019).
• Local government employment by local authority for the current quarter. A time series of total local government employment from Q1 1999 and by gender from Q1 2011.
• 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.

Background Notes

Statistics prior to Q1 2008 are estimates. These have been calculated using the total UK reserved public sector employment figure and applying to Scotland on a pro-rata basis as regional level data has only been collected from Q1 2008 onwards.

Background notes about the information contained in our PSE series are available at the following web section:

http://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment/SourcesDef

Next Publication: September 2019