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Public Sector Employment in Scotland
17/03/2010
Scotland's Chief Statistician today published statistics on Public Sector Employment in Scotland. The publication provides statistics up to Quarter 4 (Q4) of 2009 and covers all of the public sector as defined by UK National Accounts. This release provides a complete quarterly series from Quarter 1 1999 onwards. The quarterly data in this publication are not seasonally adjusted and therefore comparisons between years should only be made for the same quarter.
This publication also includes employment levels across the 199 public bodies that are the focus of the Scottish Government's Simplification programme. This information shows employment levels at the baseline position of October 2007 (or the nearest public sector employment snapshot date, Q3 2007) and Q4 2009.
The main findings from Quarter 4 2009 are:
- In quarter 4 (Q4) 2009, there were 613,400 people employed in the public sector which is decrease of 9,600 (1.5 per cent) since Q4 2008.
- Total public sector employment currently accounts for 24.8 per cent of total employment in Scotland. This has increased from 23.1 per cent in Q3 1999 and increased from 24.6 per cent in Q3 2008.
- Of the total 613,400 people employed in the public sector, 82.5 per cent (506,000) work in public bodies devolved to Scotland. The remaining 17.4 per cent (106,900) work in public bodies which are the responsibility of the UK Government and 0.1 per cent (520) work in the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body.
- Devolved public sector bodies currently account for 20.5 per cent per cent of total employment in Scotland.
- Since Q4 2008, employment in public bodies devolved to Scotland has decreased by 1,700 (0.3 per cent). This decrease is driven by a significant reduction in local government employment, specifically within Glasgow City Council where a large number of staff transferred from the Council to Cordia (Services) Limited Liability Partnership which is a private sector company.
- Total headcount employment in Local Government (excluding Police, Fire and related services) was 274,700 in Q3 2009. This figure comprises: 63,600 teachers; 51,800 other education staff; 54,800 social work staff and 104,400 other staff.
This publication is also the official release of Scottish Local Government employment statistics. These were previously published by the Scottish Government in the Joint Staffing Watch Survey.
Devolved public bodies refers to public authorities which are the responsibility of the Scottish Government or Scottish Parliament. This includes the core Scottish Government and Agencies, local authorities, Police and Fire Services, NHS, Non-Departmental Public Bodies, Non-Ministerial Departments, Public Corporations, Ombudsmen and Commissioners and other significant national bodies.