PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYMENT IN SCOTLAND STATISTICS FOR 3rd QUARTER 2014

Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 3rd 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). This is a snapshot of employment as at September 2014. 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 affecting this publication:

Total Employment and Private Sector figures from Q3 2001 onwards have been revised within this publication due to reweighting of the Labour Force Survey 'Total Employment' workforce estimates to account for the latest population totals from the 2011 Census.

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.

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

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

• In Q3 2014, there were 541,900 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, a decrease of 37,900 (6.5%) since Q3 2013. This level is lower than the level in 1999, when the series began.
• There were 2,590,000 people employed in Scotland in Q3 2014, an increase of 35,100 (1.4%) over the year. In Q3 2014, public sector employment accounted for 20.9% of total employment, down from 22.7% in the previous year; the lowest proportion since the series began in 1999.
• In Q3 2014, there were an estimated 2,048,500 people employed in the private sector in Scotland, an increase of 72,900 (3.7%) over the year. Private sector employment in Scotland accounts for 79.1% of total employment; the highest proportion since the series began in 1999.
• Of the total 541,900 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, 89.8% are accounted for by employment in the devolved public sector. Employment in the devolved public sector increased slightly (up 2,100 (0.4%)) over the year to 486,600 in Q3 2014.
• Over the year, employment in the devolved public sector decreased in Police and Fire Related Services by 1,000 (3.4%) and Public Corporations by 100 (1.4%). Employment in the devolved public sector increased in NHS by 2,400 (1.5%), Civil Service by 500 (3.1%), Other Public Bodies by 300 (2.2%) and Further Education Colleges by 100 (0.6%). Employment in Local Government remained unchanged at 246,100.
• 10.2% of the total public sector employment relates to employment in the reserved public sector in Scotland. The reserved sector saw a decrease of 40,000 (42.0%) in headcount between Q3 2013 and Q3 2014. This was largely due to the reclassification of Lloyds Banking Group plc. (and subsidiaries) in Q1 2014, as well as the reclassification of the Royal Mail Group Limited and Direct Line Group plc. in Q4 2013 from reserved public corporations to the private sector. The reserved public sector excluding reserved public corporations and public sector financial institutions, would have decreased by 3,600 (7.8%) from 45,800 in Q3 2013 to 42,200 in Q3 2014.
• Employment within the reserved public sector decreased across nearly all categories over the year to Q3 2014. Employment decreased in Civil Service by 2,400 (8.5%) and Armed Forces by 1,300 (11.5%) whereas Public Bodies increased by 100 (1.3%).

Public Sector Employment Web section

The Public Sector Employment Web section provides additional information to this National Statistics publication http://www.scotland.gov.uk/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 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.