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Publication - Statistics

Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 1st Quarter 2025

Published
10 June 2025
Directorate
Chief Economist Directorate
Topic
Economy, Public sector, Work and skills

Statistics based on administrative records and surveys of individual public sector bodies carried out by the Scottish Government and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is a snapshot of employment as at March 2025.

Part of

Supporting documents

Key points

Summary - based on headcount data:

  • in March 2025, there were 598,700 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, accounting for 22.3% of total employment[1]
  • in March 2025, employment in the public sector was 8,650 (-1.4%) less than in March 2024, mainly due to the reclassification of an organisation from the public to the private sector
  • when major reclassifications are excluded, the public sector increased by around 1,000 (0.2%) between March 2024 and March 2025[2]
  • of the total 598,700 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, 550,000 (91.9%) were employed in the devolved public sector in March 2025. This was 880 (0.2%) more than in March 2024
  • between March 2024 and March 2025, employment in the devolved public sector increased by:
    • 1,160 (0.6%) in the NHS
    • 650 (2.3%) in the Devolved Civil Service 
    • 270 (1.2%) in Other Public Bodies
    • 510 (6.1%) in Public Corporations
    • 350 (1.3%) in Police and Fire Services
  • while employment in the devolved public sector decreased by:
    • 1,830 (-0.7%) in Local Government
    • 220 (-1.8%) in Further Education Colleges
  • in March 2025, there were 48,700 people employed in the Reserved Public Sector in Scotland. This was 9,530 (-16.4%) less than in March 2024. The Reserved Public Sector accounts for 8.1% of total public sector employment in Scotland
  • between March 2024 and March 2025, employment within the Reserved Public Sector decreased in Other Public Sector[3] by 9,900 (-46.0%)[4] and increased in the Reserved Civil Service by 370 (1.4%)

[1] Estimates for total employment and private sector employment are based on the Labour Force Survey, ONS. ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates for January to March 2019 onwards were reweighted in December 2024, causing a step change discontinuity. Therefore, the LFS reweighting exercise creates a break in the series between December 2018 to February 2019 (Q4 2018) and January to March 2019 (Q1 2019) for regional total employment and regional private sector employment. LFS estimates are designated as official statistics in development.

[2] Further details on major reclassifications are provided on page 8 and on the About public sector employment statistics page of the Scottish Government website.

[3] Public corporations, public sector financial institutions and public bodies have been combined into ‘other public sector’ to ensure employment figures for individual organisations are not disclosed.  

[4] The NatWest Group plc (including Royal Bank of Scotland plc) was reclassified to the private sector with effect from 1 June 2024, contributing to the decrease in employment in Other Public Sector over the year. The ONS published a media statement and a blog to accompany this re-classification.

Contact

For enquiries about this publication please contact:

Labour Market Statistics,
Office of the Chief Economic Adviser
Telephone: 0131 244 6773,
E-mail: LMStats@gov.scot

For general enquiries about Scottish Government statistics please contact:

Office of the Chief Statistician
E-mail: statistics.enquiries@gov.scot

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