Scottish Public Sector Employment

19th March 2019

Public Sector Employment Statistics for Scotland, released today by Scotland's Chief Statistician, show that there were 553,300 people employed in the public sector in Scotland in December 2018.

As of December 2018, public sector employment accounted for 20.9 per cent of total employment in the country and private sector employment accounted for 79.1 per cent of total employment in Scotland.

There were 498,200 people employed in the devolved public sector in December 2018, a net decrease of 6,050 (-1.2%) since December 2017. There were increases in headcount in devolved civil service by 930 (+5.4%), other public bodies by 380 (+2.4%), further education colleges by 140 (+1.0%), NHS staff by 400 (+0.2%) and Police and Fire by 230 (+0.8%). There were also increases in headcount in local government by 6,640 (+2.7%), mainly due to Cordia services moving back under Glasgow City Council services. There were decreases in headcount in Public Corporations by 14,770 (-63.9%), mainly due to Registered Social Landlords being reclassified into the private sector.

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.

Full details and stats can be seen at -

https://www.gov.scot/publications/public-sector-employment-scotland-statistics-4th-quarter-2018/