Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 2nd Quarter 2012

1. Total employment and public and private sector employment in Scotland; Headcount (Table 1)

This section 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 Guide¹.

In quarter 2 (Q2) 2012, there were 580,100 people employed in the public sector in Scotland. Total public sector employment has decreased by 16,700 (2.8%) since Q2 2011 but increased by 35,000 (6.4%) since Q2 1999.

In the last year total employment has decreased from 2,489,000 in Q2 2011 to 2,465,000 in Q2 2012, a decrease of 23,700 (1.0%). There were 1,884,700 people employed in the private sector in Scotland, a decrease from 1,891,700 in Q2 2011 and an increase from 1,699,600 in Q2 1999.

Total public sector employment accounts for 23.5% of total employment in Scotland. This is down from 24.0% in Q2 2011 and down from 24.3% in Q2 1999. (In 1999 the banking sector was not included in the public sector).

Chart 1: Total Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Headcount,1999-Q2 2012

Chart 2: Annual change in employment by main sector, Headcount

Impact of excluding Public Sector Financial Institutions

If we exclude public sector financial institutions² from the series, there would be 548,100 people employed in the public sector, representing 22.2% of total employment in Scotland.

Excluding these banking groups, public sector employment would have decreased by 14,900 (2.7%), instead of 16,700 (2.8%), over the year and public sector employment would have increased by 3,000 (0.5%) since Q2 1999 instead of 35,000 (6.4%).