Scottish Public Sector Employment

15th September 2020

Public Sector Employment Statistics for Scotland released today by Scotland's Chief Statistician show that there were 565,600 people employed in the public sector in Scotland in June 2020.

As of June 2020, public sector employment accounted for 21.2% of total employment in Scotland and private sector employment accounted for 78.8% of total employment.

There were 512,100 people employed in the devolved public sector in June 2020, a net increase of 11,820 (2.4%) since June 2019.

There were increases in headcount in:

• devolved civil service by 1,350 (+6.8%)

• NHS by 7,960 (+4.9%)

• local government by 3,100 (+1.2%)

• police and fire by 260 (+0.9%)

There was a decrease in headcount in:

• other public bodies by 540 (-3.3%)

• further education colleges by 210 (-1.5%)

• public corporations by 100 (-1.2%)

The figures released today were produced by independent statistical staff free from any political interference, in accordance with professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.