Public sector employment, UK: December 2024

Labour market overview, UK

Average weekly earnings in Great Britain

Earnings and employment from Pay As You Earn Real Time Information, UK

Employment in the UK

Labour market in the regions of the UK

Vacancies and jobs in the UK

• Employment in the public sector was estimated at 6.14 million in December 2024, an increase of 19,000 (0.3%) compared with September 2024, and an increase of 53,000 (0.9%) compared with December 2023.

• Employment in central government was a record high, at an estimated 4.00 million in December 2024, an increase of 23,000 (0.6%) compared with September 2024 and an increase of 105,000 (2.7%) compared with December 2023; the main contributors to this increase were the NHS, some local authority schools becoming academies, and the Civil Service.

• The NHS employed an estimated record high of 2.05 million people in December 2024, an increase of 11,000 (0.5%) compared with September 2024 and an increase of 48,000 (2.4%) compared with December 2023.

• Employment in local government was a record low, at an estimated 1.99 million in December 2024, a decrease of 4,000 (0.2%) compared with September 2024 and a decrease of 13,000 (0.7%) compared with December 2023; some local authority schools becoming academies contributed to this decrease.

• The estimated employment changes between local government and central government because of academy conversions is 7,000 on the quarter and 34,000 on the year; this conversion is contributing towards the gains and losses in these sectors.

• Employment in public corporations was an estimated 157,000 in December 2024, which was unchanged compared with September 2024, but a decrease of 39,000 (19.9%) compared with December 2023; part of the annual decrease is the result of a reclassification between March 2024 and June 2024.

• The Civil Service employed 548,000 people in December 2024, which was unchanged compared with September 2024 but an increase of 13,000 (2.4%) compared with December 2023.

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

We have conducted a seasonal adjustment review of Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates, resulting in revisions to LFS estimates from January to March 2019 onwards. Estimates of total employment and private sector employment derived from the LFS will be affected by this.

As stated on 3 December 2024 in our Impact of reweighting on LFS key indicators: December 2024 article, from 17 December, we have reinstated reweighted LFS estimates into our monthly publication. These LFS estimates are official statistics in development.

LFS reweighting does not address the volatility we have seen in recent periods and that 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.

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".