Public Sector Employment In Scotland Statistics For 3rd 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 September 2021.


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

Footnote 1

Not Seasonally Adjusted

Quarter Total Employment6 Private Sector2 Public Sector Estimated Private Sector including major reclassifications3,4 Estimated Public Sector excluding major reclassifications3,5
Level Level Percentage of total employment Level Percentage of total employment Level Percentageof total employment Level Percentage of total employment
Q3 1999 r 2,293,000 1,746,200 76.2% 546,400 23.8% 1,765,000 77.0% 528,000 23.0%
Q3 2015 r 2,620,000 2,059,700 78.6% 560,100 21.4% 2,088,000 79.7% 531,000 20.3%
Q3 2016 r 2,600,000 2,042,000 78.5% 558,000 21.5% 2,071,000 79.6% 529,000 20.4%
Q3 2017 r 2,666,000 2,107,600 79.1% 558,000 20.9% 2,136,000 80.1% 530,000 19.9%
Q3 2018 r 2,662,000 2,118,500 79.6% 543,500 20.4% 2,131,000 80.1% 531,000 19.9%
Q3 2019 r 2,616,000 2,056,300 78.6% 559,900 21.4% 2,072,000 79.2% 544,000 20.8%
Q3 2020 r 2,646,000 2,075,700 78.5% 569,800 21.5% 2,094,000 79.2% 551,000 20.8%
Q3 2021 2,640,000 2,054,200 77.8% 585,400 22.2% 2,073,000 78.5% 567,000 21.5%
Change on year to: Q3 2021 -5,900 -21,490 -0.6 p.p. 15,590 0.6 p.p. -22,000 -0.6 p.p. 16,000 0.6 p.p.
% change on year: Q3 2021 -0.2% -1.0% 2.7% -1.0% 2.8%

r = minor reclassification and revisions to data

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 onwards 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. These revisions were included in the PSE publication released on 14 September 2021. Q3 2020 LFS estimates in this table may differ from those previously published.

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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