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Publication - Statistics

Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 2nd Quarter 2023

Published
12 September 2023
Directorate
Chief Economist Directorate
Topic
Economy, Public sector, Work and skills

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

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Key points

Summary based on headcount data:

  • in June 2023, there were 599,000 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, accounting for 22.2% of total employment[1].
  • in June 2023, employment in the public sector was 4,670 (0.8%) more than in June 2022.
  • when major reclassifications are excluded, the public sector increased by around 3,000 (0.6%) between June 2022 and June 2023[2].
  • of the total 599,000 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, 542,200 (90.5%) were employed in the devolved public sector in June 2023. This was 3,410 (0.6%) more than in June 2022.
  • between June 2022 and June 2023, employment in the devolved public sector increased by:
    • 1,610 (0.9%) in the NHS
    • 1,170 (0.4%) in Local Government
    •    530 (3.3%) in Other Public Bodies
    •    460 (3.4%) in Public Corporations
    •    130 (0.5%) in Police and Fire Related Services
  • employment in the devolved public sector decreased by:
    • 460 (-3.5%) in Further Education Colleges
    •   20 (-0.1%) in the Devolved Civil Service 
  • in June 2023, there were 56,800 people employed in the Reserved Public Sector in Scotland. This was 1,260 (2.3%) more than in June 2022. The Reserved Public Sector accounts for 9.5% of total public sector employment in Scotland.  
  • between June 2022 and June 2023, employment within the Reserved Public Sector increased in Other Public Sector[3] by 1,680 (8.3%), decreased in the reserved Civil Service by 210 (-0.9%), and decreased in the Armed Forces by 200 (-1.9%).

[1] Estimates for total employment and private sector employment are based on the Labour Force Survey, ONS.

[2] Further details on major reclassifications are provided on page 5 and on the About public sector employment statistics page of the Scottish Government website.

[3] Public corporations, public sector financial institutions and public bodies have been combined into ‘other public sector’ to ensure individual organisation employment figures are not disclosed.  

Contact

Email: LMStats@gov.scot

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