Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for fourth quarter 2018

4. Reserved Public Sector Employment in Scotland; Headcount

(see Table 5)

The number of people employed in the reserved public sector in December 2018 was 55,100, 800 (1.4%) lower than in December 2017.

The estimated reserved public sector, excluding the effects of the major reclassifications, was 300 (0.7%) lower, at 42,800 in December 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 December 2018.

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

Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 4 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 670 (2.7%);
• Employment levels for Public Corporations & Public Sector Financial Institutions^[8] falling by 610 (5.6%) from 10,900 in December 2017 to 10,300 in December 2018;
• Employment levels for the Armed Forces falling by 30 (0.3%);

while:

• Employment levels for Public Bodies rose by 510 (5.2%).

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