Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 1st Quarter 2026
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.
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 3,770 (0.7%) higher in March 2026 compared with March 2025 and the reserved public sector was 790 (1.6%) higher.
In the devolved public sector, Public Corporations saw the largest percentage increase (2.4%) over the year, while Further Education Colleges saw the largest percentage decrease (-3.3%).
The largest increase in headcount over the year was in the NHS (increasing by 3,000) and the largest decrease was in Further Education Colleges (decreasing by 410).
In the reserved public sector, headcount in the Reserved Civil Service increased by 540 (2.0%) over the year and in the Other Public Sector[1] by 250 (2.0%).
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 over the year
Breakdown of Public Sector[2] employment (Headcount) in Scotland and annual change from March 2025 to March 2026
Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 1 2026 from the Scottish Government. For Figure 4 data, see Table 2, 3 and 4.
Note: Armed Forces data is updated once per year, in Quarter 2.
[1] 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] 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
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