PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYMENT IN SCOTLAND STATISTICS FOR 4TH QUARTER 2014

Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 4th 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 December 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).

Things to note when using publication:

On 17^th December 2013, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced that from 1^st September 2014, Network Rail will be reclassified as a Central Government body in the public sector and will apply from April 2004.

On 30th April 2014, 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

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.

A separate public sector series excluding the effects of major reclassifications has been included in this publication to show the impact of the reclassifications on the number of people employed in the public sector.

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

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

• There were 2,591,000 people employed in Scotland in Q4 2014, an increase of 34,500 (1.4%) over the year.
• In Q4 2014, there were 545,100 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, a decrease of 24,100 (4.2%) since Q4 2013. This level is lower than the level in 1999, when the series began. In Q4 2014, public sector employment accounted for 21.0% of total employment, down from 22.3% in the previous year.
• In Q4 2014, there were an estimated 2,045,900 people employed in the private sector in Scotland, an increase of 58,600 (2.9%) over the year. Private sector employment in Scotland accounts for 79.0% of total employment.
• Of the total 545,100 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, 89.5% 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 487,800 in Q4 2014.
• Over the year, employment in the devolved public sector decreased in Police and Fire Related Services by 800 (2.6%), Local Government by 500 (0.2%) and Public Corporations by 200 (2.9%). Employment in the devolved public sector increased in NHS by 2,400 (1.5%), Civil Service by 600 (3.8%), Other Public Bodies by 300 (2.3%) and Further Education Colleges by 300 (2.3%).
• 10.5% of the total public sector employment relates to employment in the reserved public sector in Scotland. The reserved sector saw a decrease of 26,200 (31.4%) in headcount between Q4 2013 and Q4 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 estimated reserved public sector excluding the effects of the major reclassifications would have decreased by 3,000 (7.2%) from 47,000 in Q4 2013 to 43,000 in Q4 2014.
• Employment within the reserved public sector decreased across nearly all categories over the year to Q4 2014. Employment decreased in Civil Service by 2,200 (8.1%) and Armed Forces by 1,100 (10.4%) whereas Public Bodies increased by 300 (2.7%).
• If Banks and other reclassifications were not included in the public sector, the estimated total public sector employment would have decreased by 1,000 (0.2%) rather than 24,100 (4.2%) over the year.

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 from Q1 1999 and by gender from Q1 2011.
• 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.