SECTION 1: TOTAL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYMENT
This section focuses on overall employment in both:
- public bodies which are the devolved responsibility of the Scottish Government or Scottish Parliament and
- reserved public sector bodies for which the UK Government has ministerial responsibility.
- In quarter 4 (Q4) 2009, there were 613,400 people employed in the public sector. Total public sector employment has decreased by 9,600 (1.5%) since Q4 2008 and increased by 80,500 (15.1%) since Q4 1999.
Impact of public sector financial institutions
- The large increase in public sector employment since Q4 1999 is caused by the reclassification of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group ( RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group as public corporations. If we exclude public sector financial institutions 1 from the series, there would be 576,700 people employed in the public sector, representing 23.3% of total employment in Scotland. Excluding these banking groups, public sector employment would have increased by 43,800 (8.2%) since Q4 1999. (See background notes 20-22 for further details on the inclusion of financial institutions)
- There were 1,860 thousand people employed in the private sector in Scotland, a decrease from 1,910 thousand in Q4 2008 and an increase from 1,773 thousand in Q4 1999. Total public sector employment currently accounts for 24.8% of total employment in Scotland. This has increased from 24.6% in Q4 2008 and 23.1% in Q4 1999.
Chart 1: Total public sector and private sector employment in Scotland, headcount, 1999-2009
Chart 2: Breakdown of total public sector employment in Scotland, headcount, Q4 2009
Note:
1. Devolved public bodies includes devolved public corporations, devolved NDPBs and devolved other public bodies
2. UK wide public bodies includes UK wide public corporations, UK wide NDPBs and UK wide other public bodies with a presence in Scotland.