Public sector employment, UK: June 2024

• Total public sector employment decreased in June 2024 compared with the previous quarter, mainly because of a reclassification from the public sector to the private sector, but was still higher than a year ago.

• There were an estimated 5.94 million employees in the public sector in June 2024, a decrease of 16,000 (0.3%) compared with March 2024, but an increase of 76,000 (1.3%) compared with June 2023.

• Employment in public corporations fell by 39,000 (20.1%) to 155,000 in June 2024, compared with March 2024, because of a reclassification from the public sector to the private sector.

• Employment in central government was an estimated 3.79 million in June 2024, an increase of 24,000 (0.6%) compared with March 2024 and an increase of 120,000 (3.3%) compared with June 2023; the main contributors to this increase were the NHS, local authority schools becoming academies, and the Civil Service.

• The NHS employed an estimated 2.03 million people in June 2024, an increase of 10,000 (0.5%) compared with March 2024 and an increase of 65,000 (3.3%) compared with June 2023.

• There were 546,000 employees in the Civil Service in June 2024, an increase of 2,000 (0.4%) compared with March 2024 and an increase of 24,000 (4.6%) compared with June 2023.

• Employment in local government was an estimated 2.00 million in June 2024, a decrease of 1,000 (0.1%) compared with March 2024 and a decrease of 5,000 (0.2%) compared with June 2023.

Reclassification of NatWest Group plc

On 21 August 2024, we announced the reclassification of NatWest Group plc and its subsidiaries from the public sector to the private sector with effect from 1 June 2024. Our Economic statistics classifications and developments in public sector finances: July 2024 article has more information on this classification decision. We have implemented this reclassification in this month’s release.

Labour Force Survey reweighting and revisions to total and private sector employment estimates

As stated on 5 February 2024 in our Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey key indicators: 2024 article, from 13 February we have reinstated reweighted LFS estimates into our monthly publication. These LFS estimates are official statistics in development. Estimates of total employment and private sector employment derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) were revised following the reintroduction of reweighted LFS estimates in our Public sector employment, UK: December 2023 bulletin.

The reweighting exercise created a discontinuity in the non-seasonally adjusted UK and regional private sector series between June 2022 and September 2022. Users should take this discontinuity into consideration when looking at long-term movements in the series. However, we modelled the seasonally adjusted UK levels of total employment back to June to August 2011, to ensure that headline levels of total and private sector employment can be assessed without a discontinuity.

Reweighting does not address the volatility we have seen in recent periods and which we expect to see to some extent in the future. We would advise caution when interpreting changes in headline rates and recommend using them as part of our suite of labour market indicators, alongside workforce jobs (WFJ), Claimant Count data and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real Time Information (RTI) estimates.

For further information, please see our Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey key indicators article. These LFS estimates are official statistics in development.

As stated in our Labour market transformation – update on progress and plans article, published in July 2024, we are planning a further reweighting exercise, based on the population projections published in January 2024. We plan to introduce the reweighted LFS series into our Labour market publication by the end of 2024.

Reclassification of further education institutions in England

On 29 November 2022, we announced the reclassification of further education corporations, sixth form college corporations, and designated institutions in England from the non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) sector to the central government sector. Our Economic statistics sector classification – classification update and forward work plan: November 2022 article has more information on this classification decision.

This reclassification will be reflected in the public sector employment statistics in due course.

Coronavirus

For more information on how labour market data sources were affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, see our Coronavirus and the effects on UK labour market statistics article.

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

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.

More quality and methodology information

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

Accredited official statistics

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in April 2022. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled “accredited official statistics”.