Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 1st Quarter 2023
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 2023
Table 3: Total devolved public sector employment by sector; Scotland, Headcount
[1] [4]
| Quarter [5] | Total Devolved Public Sector |
NHS | Civil Service | Police and Fire Services [2] | Further Education Colleges [3] | Other Public Bodies [3] | Local Government [2] | Public Corporations | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 1999 | 471,000 | 129,000 | 14,600 | - | 15,700 | 8,300 | 294,000 | 9,000 | |
| Q1 2017 | r | 502,100 | 162,600 | 17,000 | 27,800 | 14,000 | 15,400 | 242,000 | 23,000 |
| Q1 2018 | r | 503,100 | 163,100 | 17,400 | 27,500 | 14,000 | 15,500 | 242,000 | 23,000 |
| Q1 2019 | r | 499,100 | 164,100 | 18,700 | 27,900 | 14,200 | 16,000 | 250,000 | 8,000 |
| Q1 2020 | r | 508,000 | 167,000 | 21,100 | 28,400 | 14,400 | 15,800 | 253,000 | 8,000 |
| Q1 2021 | r | 523,900 | 177,700 | 22,200 | 28,200 | 13,400 | 15,700 | 253,000 | 13,000 |
| Q1 2022 | r | 539,300 | 181,700 | 26,700 | 27,800 | 13,400 | 15,400 | 261,000 | 13,000 |
| Q1 2023 | 542,200 | 181,000 | 27,600 | 27,700 | 13,100 | 15,800 | 263,000 | 14,000 | |
| Change on year to Q1 2023 | 2,880 | -770 | 880 | -50 | -330 | 420 | 1,970 | 760 | |
| % change on year Q1 2023 | 0.5% | -0.4% | 3.3% | -0.2% | -2.4% | 2.7% | 0.8% | 5.8% | |
r - revision1.
Employment figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred, with the exception of local government and public corporation figures which are rounded to the nearest thousand; change on year rounded to the nearest ten; percentages are based on unrounded figures. "-" denotes blank entries. Totals may not equal the sum of individual parts due to rounding.
2. Police and Fire Reform: From Q2 2013 Police and Fire Services have been reclassified as central government rather than local government (as their predecessors were). All police staff are employed by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) whether deployed with the SPA or with the Police Service of Scotland.
3. Information for further education colleges in Scotland is based on collected information from Q4 2010. The method used to create the back series is detailed in the background notes of this publication.
4. For further information on interpreting these series, see the series reclassification guide or background notes of the publication.
5. There have been minor revisions to this data since the Q1 data was published a year ago. There have been historic revisions in Local Government figures. The Scottish National Investment Bank and the 2023 World Cycling Championships Ltd have been added to the data within the last year, including a backseries. Q1 2022 is affected by a larger amendment made to include temporary census workers at NRS
Contact
Email: LMStats@gov.scot
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