Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for third quarter 2020

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 September 2020.


Table 1: Number of people employed by public and private sector; Scotland, Headcount

  Total Employment6 Private Sector2 Public Sector Estimated Private Sector Estimated Public Sector
including major reclassifications3, 4 excluding major reclassifications3, 5
Level Level Percentage of total employment Level Percentage of total employment Level Percentage of total employment Level Percentage of total employment
Q3 1999 2,293,000 1,746,100 76.2% 546,500 23.8% 1,765,000 77.0% 528,000 23.0%
Q3 2014 2,593,000 2,032,300 78.4% 560,500 21.6% 2,061,000 79.5% 532,000 20.5%
Q3 2015 2,620,000 2,059,600 78.6% 560,200 21.4% 2,088,000 79.7% 531,000 20.3%
Q3 2016 2,600,000 2,041,900 78.5% 558,100 21.5% 2,071,000 79.6% 529,000 20.4%
Q3 2017 2,666,000 2,107,500 79.1% 558,100 20.9% 2,136,000 80.1% 530,000 19.9%
Q3 2018 2,662,000 2,118,400 79.6% 543,600 20.4% 2,131,000 80.0% 531,000 20.0%
Q3 2019 2,616,000 2,056,100 78.6% 560,100 21.4% 2,072,000 79.2% 544,000 20.8%
Q3 2020 2,657,000 2,087,300 78.6% 570,000 21.4% 2,106,000 79.3% 551,000 20.7%
Change on year to:
Q3 2020 41,060 31,200 0.0 p.p. 9,860 0.0 p.p. 34,000 0.1 p.p. 7,000 -0.1 p.p.
% change on year:
Q3 2020 1.6% 1.5%   1.8%   1.7%   1.2%  

Notes:

p.p. - percentage points

1. Employment figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred, unless otherwise stated. Change on year rounded to the nearest ten. Totals may not equal the sum of individual parts due to rounding.
2. Private sector is derived as the difference between the Labour Force Survey 'Total employment' workforce based estimate for the whole of Scotland (not seasonally adjusted) and the public sector estimate (derived from individual organisation statistical returns).
3. Major reclassifications include: Royal Bank of Scotland plc, Lloyds Banking Group plc, Northern Rock plc, Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance, Lloyds Bank Asset Finance, Scottish Widows, Direct Line, Royal Mail Group plc, Post Office Ltd (until Q2 2006), Network Rail, Registered Social Landlords and Train Operating Companies.
4. Private sector including major reclassifications includes the figures for the above organisations in the private sector series when they were part of the public sector and are rounded to the nearest thousand.
5. Public sector excluding major reclassifications excludes the figures for the above organisations from the public sector series when they were part of the public sector and are rounded to the nearest thousand.
6. Total employment figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.

Contact

Email: lmstats@gov.scot

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