Public sector employment, UK: June 2022

• Total public sector employment increased in June 2022 compared with the previous quarter and the previous year; the increase from a year ago is largely because of the ongoing response of the NHS and the Civil Service to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

• There were an estimated 5.74 million employees in the public sector for June 2022, which was 6,000 (0.1%) more than for March 2022 and 66,000 (1.2%) more than for June 2021.

• Employment in central government was an estimated 3.55 million for June 2022, a rise of 6,000 (0.2%) compared with March 2022 and 75,000 (2.2%) compared with June 2021; the main contributors to this increase were the NHS, the Civil Service and local authority schools becoming academies.

• The NHS employed an estimated 1.88 million people in June 2022, an increase of 4,000 (0.2%) compared with March 2022 and an increase of 36,000 (2.0%) compared with June 2021; the ongoing response to the coronavirus pandemic has driven the increase on the previous year.

• There were 512,000 employees in the Civil Service for June 2022, unchanged compared with March 2022 and 14,000 (2.8%) more than for June 2021; employment in the Civil Service remains above its June 2016 level of 416,000.

• Employment in local government was unchanged compared with March 2022 at an estimated 2.00 million, and 3,000 (0.1%) lower than for June 2021.

• Private sector employment was at an estimated 27.01 million for June 2022, an increase of 33,000 (0.1%) compared with March 2022 and an increase of 271,000 (1.0%) compared with June 2021.

Coronavirus

Our Coronavirus and the effects on UK Labour Market statistics article has more information about how labour market sources have been affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

View our Comparison of our labour market data sources and the main differences article.

Impact on production of public sector employment estimates

The collection of the data contained in this release was unaffected by the coronavirus pandemic. Comments provided by survey respondents suggested the estimates were partly affected by coronavirus planning and response.

Sources

The main source of public sector employment (PSE) data is the Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey, which is supplemented by data from external sources. Further information can be found in our PSE Quality and Methodology Information (QMI).

Full-time equivalents

While this bulletin focuses on headcount estimates of PSE, full-time equivalent estimates (based on the number of hours worked divided by the standard full-time hours) are available in our accompanying PSE datasets.

Seasonal adjustment

All PSE data time series in this release, with the exception of the regional series, are seasonally adjusted to aid interpretation. Relationships that hold in the unadjusted series do not necessarily hold for the seasonally adjusted series. For example, total PSE equals the total of all public sector industry estimates before seasonal adjustment, but this is not necessarily true after seasonal adjustment.

Reclassifications between the public and private sectors

Comparisons of public and private sector employment over time are complicated by several major reclassifications. This is where bodies employing large numbers of people have moved between the public and private sectors. We produce estimates of public and private sector employment excluding the effects of major reclassifications to help you understand underlying trends in employment. We publish these alongside estimates of total public and private sector employment in Tables 5, 6a and 7a of the PSE datasets.

Quality

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Public sector employment QMI.