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Publication - Statistics

Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 1st Quarter 2026

Published
18 June 2026
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 2026.

Part of

Supporting documents

Key points

Summary - based on headcount data:

  • in March 2026, there were 604,100 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, accounting for 22.7% of total employment[1]
  • in March 2026, employment in the public sector increased by 4,560 (0.8%) compared to March 2025
  • when major reclassifications are excluded, the public sector increased by around 4,000 (0.7%) between March 2025 and March 2026[2]
  • of the total 604,100 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, 553,900 (91.7%) were employed in the devolved public sector in March 2026. This was an increase of 3,770 (0.7%) compared to March 2025
  • between March 2025 and March 2026, employment in the devolved public sector increased by:
    • 3,000 (1.6%) in the NHS
    • 720 (0.3%) in Local Government
    • 370 (1.3%) in the Devolved Civil Service 
    • 210 (2.4%) in Public Corporations

while employment in the devolved public sector decreased by:

    • 410 (-3.3%) in Further Education Colleges
    • 90 (-0.3%) in Police and Fire Services
    • 40 (-0.2%) in Other Public Bodies
  • in March 2026, there were 50,200 people employed in the reserved public sector in Scotland. This was 790 (1.6%) more than in March 2025. The reserved public sector accounts for 8.3% of total public sector employment in Scotland
  • between March 2025 and March 2026, employment within the reserved public sector increased in the Reserved Civil Service by 540 (2.0%), and in the Other Public Sector[3] by 250 (2.0%)
 

[1] Estimates for total employment and private sector employment are based on the non-seasonally adjusted total employment estimates from the ONS Labour Force Survey.

[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.  

Contact

For enquiries about this publication please contact:

Labour Market Statistics,
Office of the Chief Economic Adviser
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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