Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 4th Quarter 2022

1. Public and Private Sector Employment in Scotland; Headcount

(see Table 1)

Public sector employment in Scotland increased by 5,960 (1.0%) between December 2021 and December 2022. This increase in public sector employment is mainly due to an increase in the devolved public sector.

The public sector is defined according to the UK National Accounts Classifications Guide

Figure 1 provides a summary of total employment in Scotland by public and private sector.

Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 4 2022

Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 4 2022

Chart 1 shows that the number of people employed in the public sector remained relatively constant between Q1 2014 and Q2 2018, before falling in Q3 2018 and rising again from Q4 2018 onwards. Excluding the effects of major reclassifications^[5] (i.e. taking out the headcounts for all large organisations listed in footnote 5 from the overall numbers), the number of people employed in the public sector gradually reached a peak in Q2 2006, decreased until Q3 2013 and remained relatively constant until Q3 2018. The increase between Q3 2018 and Q4 2018 is mainly due to Cordia services moving back under Glasgow City Council services. Since Q4 2018, the series has typically been increasing over time.

Chart 2 shows the annual change in employment for the public sector. Employment increased by 5,960 (1.0%) between December 2021 and December 2022, driven by increases in the devolved public sector headcount. The devolved public sector headcount has mainly risen due to increases in local government and the devolved Civil Service.

Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 4 2022

Impact of Excluding Major Reclassifications from Public Sector

If the major reclassifications^[5] were to be excluded from the public sector series (i.e. the headcounts for all large organisations listed in footnote 5 were taken out of the overall numbers), there would be around 576,000 people employed in the public sector as at December 2022. This was 21.2% of the total employment in Scotland compared with 21.9% if major reclassifications are included.

Public sector employment, excluding the effects of the major reclassifications, would be around 5,000 (1.0%) higher in December 2022 compared with December 2021. As this increase is similar to the increase when major reclassifications are included (5,960), it shows that the change over the year is mostly due to increases in substantive public sector organisations and is not overly influenced by reclassifications.