PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYMENT IN SCOTLAND STATISTICS FOR 4th QUARTER 2015

1. Total Employment and Public and Private Sector Employment in Scotland; Headcount (see Table 1)

Figure 1 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 Guide^[1].

Figure 1: Public and Private Sector Employment, Scotland, Q4 2015

Chart 1: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Headcount, Q1 1999 - Q4 2015, non-seasonally adjusted

Chart 1 shows that the number of people employed in the public sector in Q4 2015 was 5,800 (-1.0%) below the level in Q4 1999. The number of people employed in the public sector has remained relatively constant since Q1 2014. Excluding the effects of major reclassifications², the number of people employed in the public sector gradually increased to a peak in Q1 2006, decreased to Q2 2013 and has remained relatively constant since Q2 2013.

Chart 2 shows the annual change in employment for the public and private sectors.

Chart 2: Annual Change in Employment by Main Sector, Headcount

Impact of Excluding Major Reclassifications from Public Sector

If the major reclassifications^[2] were to be excluded from the public sector series, there would be estimated to be 531,500 people employed in the public sector in Q4 2015. This would account for 20.3% of the total employment in Scotland (this compares to 20.9% if major reclassifications are included).

Public Sector employment excluding the effects of the major reclassifications, would have decreased by 800 (-0.2%) over the year to Q4 2015 and decreased by 1,300 (-0.2%) since Q4 1999.

The major reclassifications are all included in the reserved public sector in Scotland; their impact in this sector is covered in section 4 of the publication.