Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 4th Quarter 2023
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 December 2023.
This document is part of 2 collections
Devolved Public Sector Employment in Scotland; Headcount
The devolved public sector includes:
- Devolved Civil Service
- Local Government, covering Scottish Local Authorities, Police and Fire Services (up to Q1 2013), Valuation Joint Boards and Regional Transport Partnerships
- Police and Fire Services (Q2 2013 onwards)
- NHS in Scotland
- Further Education Colleges
- Devolved Public Corporations
- Other Devolved Public Bodies (which covers Non-Departmental Bodies and other bodies).
Employment in the devolved public sector was 547,700 in December 2023. This is 9,320 (1.7%) higher than in December 2022. This increase is largely due to increases in the NHS of 6,000 (3.3%) and Local Government of 3,240 (1.2%).
Figure 5: Local Government and NHS employ the largest number of people in the Devolved Public Sector
Breakdown of Devolved Public Sector employment (Headcount) in Scotland as at December 2023
Note: Totals may not equal the sum of the individual parts due to rounding
Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 4 2023
The increase over the year in the devolved public sector headcount was due to the following changes (changes are given from December 2022 to December 2023):
- employment in NHS increased by 6,000 (3.3%) to 186,300 [1]
- employment in Local Government increased by 3,240 (1.2%) to 264,000
- employment in Devolved Civil Service increased by 380 (1.4%) to 27,900
- employment in Other Public Bodies increased by 510 (2.4%) to 22,200
- employment in Public Corporations increased by 410 (5.4%) to 8,000
while:
- employment in Further Education Colleges decreased by 920 (-7.0%) to 12,100
- employment in Police and Fire Related Services decreased by 300 (-1.1%) to 27,400
Figure 6: Public Corporations had the largest percentage increase over the year across the Devolved Public Sector
Change in Devolved Public Sector employment (Headcount) in Scotland from December 2022 to December 2023
Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 4 2023
[1] A detailed breakdown of NHS employment by staffing group was published by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) on 5 March 2024, with data relating to 31 December 2023 in their NHS Scotland official workforce statistics publication
Contact
Email: LMStats@gov.scot
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