Data released today by the ABS for Public Sector employment shows that State government employed workers in QLD grew at a rate below that seen nationally in the year to 2018/19, although growth over the past 5 years is running well ahead of the national average.
2018/19 | Commonwealth | State | Local | Total |
chg % y/y | chg % y/y | chg % y/y | chg % y/y | |
NSW | -1.1 | +2.5 | +6.1 | +2.5 |
VIC | +3.4 | +4.5 | +4.0 | +4.3 |
QLD | -3.1 | +3.1 | +0.9 | +2.4 |
SA | -4.8 | +5.3 | -1.8 | +3.7 |
WA | +0.8 | +2.3 | +3.6 | +2.3 |
AUS | +0.6 | +3.3 | +3.4 | +3.0 |
Across the nation, total public sector employees grew by 3.0% in the year to 2018/19 while in QLD the increase was 2.4%. State Government employees grew 3.1% in QLD versus an increase of 3.3% across the country. The total number of public sector employees across the country exceeded 2 million in 2018/19 for the first time (2,046,000).
When the increases over the past 5 years are considered we see a national increase of 7.3% with QLD much higher (and second only to VIC) at 12.1%. State Government employees across the nation are up 9.3% since 2013/14 but in QLD that figure jumps to 14.5% (again, second only to VIC at 16.1%)
When looking at particular sectors (where data is only provided on a national basis) Public Admin & Safety, Education & Training and Healthcare & Social Assistance make up 89% of all employees across the three government sectors. Together these three sectors saw an increase of 3.4% for the year and 9.6% over the past 5 years.
Note, as the ABS say…”The estimates in this release may differ from other available information due to differences in coverage and/or the classification of organisations.” For example, the latest Queensland Government release of Public Sector Workforce data to June 2019 estimated the increase in State employee at just 2.1% (see here for details)