Public Sector Employment In Scotland Statistics For 2nd Quarter 2021

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 June 2021.

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Table 1: Number of people employed by public and private sector; Scotland, Headcount [note 1]

Not Seasonally Adjusted

Quarter Total Employment [note 6] Private Sector [note 2] Public Sector Estimated Private Sector (including major reclassifications) [note 3][note 4] Estimated Public Sector (excluding major reclassifications) [note 3][note 5]
Level Level Percentage of total employment Level Percentage of total employment Level Percentage of total employment Level Percentage of total employment
Q2 1999 2,245,000 1,699,100 75.7% 545,600 24.3% 1,718,000 76.5% 527,000 23.5%
Q2 2015 2,601,000 2,040,600 78.4% 560,800 21.6% 2,069,000 79.5% 532,000 20.5%
Q2 2016 2,645,000 2,084,400 78.8% 560,600 21.2% 2,114,000 79.9% 531,000 20.1%
Q2 2017 2,700,000 2,141,800 79.3% 558,400 20.7% 2,170,000 80.4% 530,000 19.6%
Q2 2018 2,677,000 2,119,000 79.1% 558,500 20.9% 2,147,000 80.2% 531,000 19.8%
Q2 2019 2,665,000 2,107,100 79.1% 557,700 20.9% 2,123,000 79.7% 542,000 20.3%
Q2 2020 r 2,627,000 2,055,000 78.2% 572,000 21.8% 2,074,000 78.9% 553,000 21.1%
Q2 2021 2,630,000 2,047,400 77.8% 583,100 22.2% 2,066,000 78.5% 565,000 21.5%
Change on year to:
Q2 2021 3,400 -7,650 -0.4 p.p. 11,050 0.4 p.p. -8,000 -0.4 p.p. 11,000 0.4 p.p.
% change on year:
Q2 2021 0.1% -0.4% 1.9% -0.4% 2.0%

r = revisions to total employment and private sector employment figures (see note below)

Important Note: Estimates for total employment and private sector employment are based on the Labour Force Survey, ONS. Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates from Jan-Mar 2020 to Feb-Apr 2021 were reweighted in July 2021 to new populations derived using growth rates from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Real Time Information (RTI) to allow for different trends during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notes:

p.p. - percentage points

1. Employment figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred, unless otherwise stated. Change on year rounded to the nearest ten. Totals may not equal the sum of individual parts due to rounding.

2. Private sector is derived as the difference between the Labour Force Survey 'Total employment' workforce based estimate for the whole of Scotland (not seasonally adjusted) and the public sector estimate (derived from individual organisation statistical returns).

3. Major reclassifications include: Royal Bank of Scotland plc, Lloyds Banking Group plc, Northern Rock plc, Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance, Lloyds Bank Asset Finance, Scottish Widows, Direct Line, Royal Mail Group plc, Post Office Ltd (until Q2 2006), Network Rail, Registered Social Landlords and Train Operating Companies.

4. Private sector including major reclassifications includes the figures for the above organisations in the private sector series when they were part of the public sector and are rounded to the nearest thousand.

5. Public sector excluding major reclassifications excludes the figures for the above organisations from the public sector series when they were part of the public sector and are rounded to the nearest thousand.

6. Total employment figures are rounded to the nearest thousand and are taken from Labour Force Survey (LFS).

Contact

Email: LMStats@gov.scot

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