Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for third quarter 2018

4. Reserved Public Sector Employment in Scotland; Headcount

(see Table 5)

The number of people employed in the reserved public sector in September 2018 was 55,400, 1,070 (1.9%) lower than in September 2017.

The estimated reserved public sector, excluding the effects of the major reclassifications, was 400 (0.9%) lower, at 42,900 in September 2018.

The reserved public sector employment includes:

• Reserved Civil Service (see section 5);
• Armed Forces;
• Reserved Public Corporations and Public Sector Financial Institutions;
• Other Reserved Public Bodies (which covers Non-Departmental Bodies and other bodies).

Chart 5 shows the size of each group in the reserved public sector as at September 2018.

Chart 5: Breakdown of Reserved Public Sector Employment by Sector as at September 2018, Headcount

Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 3 2018

Note: Totals may not equal the sum of the individual parts due to rounding.

The decrease in the overall headcount in the reserved public sector was due to:

• Employment levels for the Reserved Civil Service falling by 710
  (2.8%);
• Employment levels for Public Corporations & Public Sector Financial Institutions^[7] falling by 770 (6.8%) from 11,300 in September 2017 to 10,500 in September 2018;
• Employment levels for the Armed Forces falling by 60 (0.6%);

while:

• Employment levels for Public Bodies rose by 480 (4.9%).

Figure 4: Percentage Change (from September 2017 to September 2018) in the Reserved Public Sector, Headcount