Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for first quarter 2019

4. Reserved Public Sector Employment in Scotland; Headcount (see Table 5)

The number of people employed in the reserved public sector in March 2019 was 54,800, 1,170 (2.1%) lower than in March 2018.

The estimated reserved public sector, excluding the effects of the major reclassifications, was 400 (0.9%) lower than March 2018, at 42,600 in March 2019.

The reserved public sector employment includes:

• Reserved Civil Service (see section 5);
• Armed Forces;
• Reserved Public Corporations and Public Sector Financial Institutions;
• Other Reserved Public Bodies (which covers Non-Departmental Bodies and other bodies).

Chart 5 shows the size of each group in the reserved public sector as at March 2019.

Chart 5: Breakdown of Reserved Public Sector Employment by Sector as at March 2019, Headcount

The reserved civil service employs the largest proption of employees in the reserved public secotr.

Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 1 2019

Note: Totals may not equal the sum of the individual parts due to rounding.

The decrease in the overall headcount in the reserved public sector was due to:

• Employment levels for the Reserved Civil Service falling by 660
  (2.6%);
• Employment levels for Public Corporations & Public Sector Financial Institutions^[10] falling by 970 (8.8%) from 11,100 in March 2018 to 10,100 in March 2019;

while:

• Employment levels for Public Bodies rose by 460 (4.5%).
• Employment levels for the Armed Forces were unchanged.

Figure 4: Percentage Change (from March 2018 to March 2019) in the Reserved Public Sector, Headcount

Public Bodies had the largest increase at 4.5%

Public Corporations & Public Sector Financial Institutions decreased by 8.8%.