Scottish Public Sector Employment

21st March 2015

Public Sector Employment Statistics for Scotland, released today by Scotland's Chief Statistician, show that over the year to Q4 2014, employment in the public sector in Scotland has decreased by 24,100 to 545,100. The decrease is largely due to the National Accounts reclassifications of Lloyds Banking Group plc. in Q1 2014, as well as the reclassification of Royal Mail plc. and Direct Line Group plc. in Q4 2013 from reserved public corporations to the private sector.

In Q4 2014, public sector employment accounted for 21.0 per cent of total employment in the country and private sector employment accounts for 79.0 per cent of total employment in Scotland.

Employment in the private sector in Scotland has increased by 2.9 per cent over the past year with over 2 million people employed in the private sector.

In Scotland, the devolved public sector saw an increase of 2,100 since Q4 2013 compared with a decrease of 26,200 in employment in the reserved public sector. The decrease in the reserved public sector was largely due to the National Accounts reclassifications of Lloyds Banking Group plc., Royal Mail plc. and Direct Line Group plc.

If the major reclassifications were to be excluded from the public sector series, there would be estimated to be 531,000 people employed in the public sector in Q4 2014, a decrease of 1,000 (0.2%) from 532,000 in Q4 2013.

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.