Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 1st Quarter 2025
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.
Public Sector Employment by Devolved and Reserved Responsibility; Headcount
The devolved public sector covers those bodies which are the responsibility of the Scottish Government or Scottish Parliament while the reserved public sector in Scotland covers those bodies for which the UK Government has ministerial responsibility.
The devolved public sector headcount was 880 (0.2%) higher in March 2025 compared with March 2024 and the reserved public sector was 9,530 (-16.4%) lower.
In the devolved public sector, Public Corporations saw the largest percentage increase (6.1%) over the year, while Further Education Colleges saw the largest percentage decrease (-1.8%).
The largest increase in headcount over the year was in the NHS (increasing by 1,160) and the largest decrease was in Local Government (decreasing by 1,830).
In the reserved public sector, headcount in the Other Public Sector[1] decreased over the year by -46.0%[2]. Employment in the Reserved Civil Service increased over the year by 1.4%.
Changes in the devolved and reserved public sector are explored in more detail in sections Devolved Public Sector Employment and Reserved Public Sector Employment respectively.
Figure 4: The devolved public sector headcount increased slightly over the year
Breakdown of Public Sector[3] employment (Headcount) in Scotland and annual change from March 2024 to March 2025
Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 1 2025
Note: Armed Forces data is updated once per year, in Quarter 2.
[1] For the Reserved sector: 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.
[2] 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.
[3] For further details on the make-up of the Scottish Public Sector, please see the background notes for this publication on the About public sector employment statistics – background notes webpage
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