QLD Public Service employment up 1.9% in year to Sept

Posted on December 16, 2021 by Pete Faulkner - Cairns, Jobs, QLD, Townsville, Uncategorized

The biannual QLD Public Service workforce statistics were released yesterday (presumably so that they were over-shadowed by the Budget update) and they show Public Service full-time-equivalent (FTE) employment up by 1.9% for the year to Sept.

If we ignore the increases in Health and Education (as the Coaldrake Review suggests we should) then the increase over the year was 1.0% (i.e. in line with estimated, weak, population growth). Since the March 2015 election FTEs are up 18.5% while the population has increased just 9.8%; if we ignore Health and Education the increase in FTEs was 7.1%.

Considering the regional breakdown we see that, in the 6 1/2 years since the election, Ipswich (+33.3%), Sunshine Coast (+33.4%), Gold Coast (+31.2%) and Moreton Bay – South (+31.0) have done particularly well from Public Service jobs growth. In the North, Cairns is up 19.0% while Townsville is one of the weakest performers across the State up just 9.7%.

The glamour from certain sections about employment growth in QLD being “all Government” has certainly quietened in recent years. As the chart below makes clear Public Service headcount has remained remarkably constant between 10.5% and 11% of total QLD employment. The measure hit a low of about 10% during the Campbell Newman years, moved higher as the Palaszczuk Govt took office and has been stable for the past five years.