Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 2nd Quarter 2023
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 June 2023
Devolved Public Sector Employment in Scotland; Headcount
The devolved public sector includes:
- Devolved Civil Service
- Local Government, covering Scottish Local Authorities, Police and Fire Services (up to Q1 2013), Valuation Joint Boards and Regional Transport Partnerships
- Police and Fire Services (Q2 2013 onwards)
- NHS in Scotland
- Further Education Colleges
- Devolved Public Corporations
- Other Devolved Public Bodies (which covers Non-Departmental Bodies and other bodies).
Employment in the devolved public sector was 542,200 in June 2023. This is 3,410 (0.6%) higher than in June 2022. This increase is largely due to an increase in the NHS of 1,610 (0.9%), Local Government of 1,170 (0.4%) and growth in Social Security Scotland[1] (included within the Devolved Civil Service).
Figure 5: Local Government and NHS employ the largest number of people in the Devolved Public Sector
Breakdown of Devolved Public Sector employment (Headcount) in Scotland as at June 2023
Note: Totals may not equal the sum of the individual parts due to rounding
Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 2 2023
The increase over the year in the devolved public sector headcount was due to the following changes (changes are given from June 2022 to June 2023):
- employment in NHS increased by 1,610 (0.9%) to 181,500 [2]
- employment in Local Government increased by 1,170 (0.4%) to 262,000
- employment in Other Public Bodies increased by 530 (3.3%) to 16,300
- employment in Public Corporations increased by 460 (3.4%) to 14,000
- employment in Police and Fire Related Services increased by 130 (0.5%) to 27,700
while:
- employment in Further Education Colleges decreased by 460 (-3.5%) to 12,800
- employment in Devolved Civil Service decreased by 20 (-0.1%) to 27,700 [3]
Figure 6: Public Corporations had the largest percentage increase over the year across the Devolved Public Sector
Change in Devolved Public Sector employment (Headcount) in Scotland from June 2022 to June 2023
[1] Further information on employment for Social Security Scotland is available in the Social Security Scotland statistics publication
[2] A detailed breakdown of NHS employment by staffing group was published by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) on 6 June 2023, with data relating to 31 March 2023 in their NHS Scotland official workforce statistics publication
[3] In Q1 and Q2 2022 the devolved civil service included temporary census workers employed in National Registers of Scotland. This impacts change over the year. A more detailed breakdown of the Devolved Civil Service data is published in the associated Public Sector Employment data web tables
Contact
Email: LMStats@gov.scot
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