Scottish Government Workforce Statistics September 2020

15th December 2020

The latest quarterly Scottish Government Workforce Information statistics have been published today by Scotland's Chief Statistician. These statistics cover the numbers of workers, staff sickness rates, and the diversity of staff up to the most recent quarter ending September 2020.

The statistics show that:

at the end of September 2020 there were 7,147 full time equivalent (FTE) directly employed staff, an increase of 517 on last year’s figure of 6,630 at the end of September 2019. The percentage of directly employed staff in permanent (97%) and temporary (3%) categories was similar to last year (September 2019: 98%, 2%)

there was a 18.1% increase in the number (headcount) of contingent (non-directly employed) workers, from 1,335 at the end of September 2019, to 1,576 at the end of September 2020, an increase of 241 workers

the staff sickness level was 6.8 average working days lost (AWDL) per staff year in the 12 month period ending September 2020, compared with 7.9 AWDL for the same period last year. This equates to a loss of 3.0% of working days in the 12 month period ending September 2020

just over half (54%) of the workforce were female, compared to 46% male. The proportion of female staff is similar to the same period last year (+1% compared to September 2019)

at the end of September 2020, the majority of staff were aged between 30 and 59, broken down as follows: 30-39 (5%), 40-49 (27.0%), 50-59 (25.3%) . 17% were aged 16-29, and 6.2% were aged 60 or over

the proportion of directly employed staff providing diversity information on disability has increased since the same period last year