Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 4th Quarter 2012

The statistics in this release are based on administrative records and surveys of individual public sector bodies carried out by the Scottish Government and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The publication includes information on public sector employment in Scotland with distinctions made for employment in devolved bodies and reserved bodies (located in Scotland).


2. Public sector employment by devolved and reserved responsibility; Headcount (Table 3)

This section provides a summary of public sector employment in:

  • Devolved public bodies which are the responsibility of the Scottish Government or Scottish Parliament.
  • Reserved public bodies for which the UK Government has ministerial responsibility.

Of the total public sector employment in Scotland, 485,100 (83.6%), covers people employed in devolved public bodies. This is a decrease of 4,500 (0.9%), down from 489,700 in Q4 2011. The decrease in employment in the devolved public sector has been driven by a decrease in total local government employment; down 5,100 (1.8%), employment in further education colleges; down 800 (5.0%) and the civil service; down 200 (0.9%) over the year. Employment in the NHS in Scotland has increased by 1,400 (0.9%) over the year and employment in Public Corporation saw an increase over the year; up 100 (1.6%).

There were 95,200 (16.4%) people employed in the reserved public sector in Scotland, a decrease of 5,700 (5.7%) from 101,000 in the last year. Employment in the reserved public sector financial institutions decreased by 2,700 (8.7%) in the last year and the reserved civil service decreased by 1,500 (5.0%).

Chart 3 below shows how the decrease of 10,300 seen for the overall public sector in Scotland is split between the devolved and reserved public sector.

Chart 3: Annual change (from Q4 2011 to Q4 2012) in public sector employment by devolved and reserved responsibility, Headcount

Chart 3: Annual change (from Q4 2011 to Q4 2012) in public sector employment by devolved and reserved responsibility, Headcount

Contact

Email: Chris Newson

Back to top