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Public Sector Employment
This article summarises work carried out by ONS to improve Public Sector Employment statistics and provides estimates from 1991 to 2004
Authors: Nick Barford, Stephen Hicks, Craig Lindsay, Donna Livesey, Richard D. Williams
ONS has been leading a programme of work to improve the quality of public sector employment (PSE) statistics in the UK. This article summarises the work carried out so far, and sets out current best estimates of employment within the public sector.
The article outlines the development work that has been carried out, including the progress on developing a coherent presentation framework and standardising definitions across sources of public sector employment. It also outlines the quality improvements that have been made to the data and provides information on the new Quarterly Public Sector Employees Survey (QPSES) that ONS has been developing. It also shows the latest figures for public sector employment from 1991 to 2004 derived from information from public sector organisations.
Employment in the public sector rose by 146,000 in the year to March 2004, compared with an increase of 132,000 in the previous year.
The largest increases in public sector employment in the year to March 2004 were in the National Health Service (up by 68,000 employees) and education (up 44,000). Together, health and education now account for just under 50 per cent of public sector employment, compared with 42 per cent in 1991. There was also a rise within the public administration sector, with an increase of 22,000, and in the police service (including civilians), up 14,000 employees.
During the period 1991 to 1998, public sector employment fell every year, reducing overall by 815,000. From 1998 to 2004, public sector employment rose every year and is now 583,000 (11 per cent) higher than in June 1998. It is still, however, below the levels of 1991 and 1992.
In the year to March 2004, employment in the private sector rose by 119,000, compared with a rise of 146,000 in the public sector
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