Public Sector Employment Statistics

David McPhee, ASD, ETLLD

Background Sources of Data Development of PSE statistics Latest Data Future of Publication

Background Public Sector Employment Measured through the

Labour Force Survey (LFS) Self classification within LFS leads to

overestimation of public sector employment (Approximately 100,000)

Caused mainly by those who work for private firms but in Public Building

BackgroundProportion of Employment in the Public Sector by

Government Office Region

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

North

ern

Irela

nd

Mer

seys

ide

Wal

es

Scotla

nd

North

Eas

t

Yorks

hire

& Hum

bers

ide

South

Wes

t

North

Wes

t

Wes

t Mid

lands

Easte

rn

Lond

on

South

Eas

t

East M

idlan

ds

Other Sources of Data

Data on employment published for Health, Local Government, Civil Service

Data published on different basis for different time periods

No routine data published for NDPBs and public corporations

Development of PSE Statistics

UK wide development – Lead by request from Prime Minister

Development of more timely and more consistent PSE stats

Scottish Executive producing Scottish version due to high demand

Development of PSE Statistics

Existing statistics for Health and Local Government used (definitions harmonised)

ONS surveys used for NDPBs and Public Corporations

Civil Service Organisations provide direct return

Development of PSE Statistics

National Accounts definition used Excludes GPs and GDPs as considered self

employed Excludes FE and HE as these are non profit

organisations serving households

Development of PSE Statistics

First data published on 15th July 2005 572,200 public sector employees – 23.4%

of total employment First data released as experimental data No historic time trend

Latest Data

Historic time trend developed using modelled data for unknown quarters

Consistent with ONS’s modelling of PSE data

Full Series from Q1 1999 – Q3 2005 published on Friday 13th Jan 2006

Latest Data

577,300 public sector employees accounting for 23.4% of total employment

Increase of 52,000 since 1999 compared to increase of 103,000 in private sector employment

Latest Data Since 1999:

Local Government increased by 10% PCs and NDPBs up by 10% NHS employment up 16% Civil Service employment up 6% Police services up 17% Fire Services up 2% Armed Forces down 14%

Latest Data

Local Government

NHS

Civil Service

Public CorporationsNDPBs

Armed Forces

Fire Services Police Services

0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

Q1 19

99

Q2 19

99

Q3 19

99

Q4 19

99

Q1 20

00

Q2 20

00

Q3 20

00

Q4 20

00

Q1 20

01

Q2 20

01

Q3 20

01

Q4 20

01

Q1 20

02

Q2 20

02

Q3 20

02

Q4 20

02

Q1 20

03

Q2 20

03

Q3 20

03

Q4 20

03

Q1 20

04

Q2 20

04

Q3 20

04

Q4 20

04

Q1 20

05

Q2 20

05

Q3 20

05

Armed Forces Civil Servants NHS

Police and Related Services Fire and Related Services Total Local Government excluding Police & Fire

NDPBs and PCs

Press Coverage

“Big Brother getting bigger as one in four work for the state”

“Hordes of social workers swell public sector army”

“Anger as public sector staff grow”

Future of Publication Possible Gender and FT/PT breakdowns Health data published quarterly – No Longer

projected Publication of NDPBs and PCs on SE website Publication of other data of interest alongside

publication Public Sector article looking at other sources