Scottish Government Workforce Statistics March 2022

14th June 2022

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 March 2022.

The statistics show that:

At the end of March 2022 there were 8,496 full time equivalent (FTE) directly employed staff, an increase on last year’s figure of 7,488 at the end of March 2021. An increase of 1008 (13.5%). The percentage of directly employed staff in permanent (98%) and temporary (2%) categories was similar to last year (March 2021: 98%, 2%).

There was a 13.3% increase in the number (headcount) of contingent (non-directly employed) workers from the end of March 2021 (1,793) to the end of March 2022 (2,031), an increase of 238 workers.

The staff sickness level was 7.3 average working days lost (AWDL) per staff year in the 12 month period ending March 2022, compared with 5.3 AWDL for the 12 month period ending March 2021. This equates to a loss of 3.2% of working days in the 12 month period ending March 2022.

Just over half (56.1%) of the workforce were female, compared to (43.9%) male. The proportion of female staff is higher than the same period last year (55% March 2021).

At the end of March 2022 the majority of staff were aged between 30 and 59, broken down as follows: 30-39 (26%), 40-49 (25.9%), 50-59 (23.6%), 18.3% were aged 16-29, and 6.3% were aged 60 or over.

The proportion of directly employed staff providing diversity information has decreased for ethnicity since the same period last year and increased for disability, marital status, religion and sexual orientation.