Public Sector employment in Scotland [February 2012]

Some 300,000 public sector workers in Scotland participated in the UK wide public sector strike at the end of November 2011, in response to plans to change pension arrangements, pension links to the CPI, retirement age and contributions. The Government announced a revised arrangement, broadly, although not universally accepted, on 20th December. Public sector employment in Scotland continues to decline. The latest data (Q3 2011) indicates that there were 588,900 (546,000 excluding public sector financial institutions) employed in the public sector in Scotland, a decrease of 23,500 (3.8%) since Q3 2010. Employment in the devolved public sector declined by 21,200 (4.1%) to 492,000, due mainly to a decline in local government employment (down 13,300 over the year). Public sector employment (headcount and excluding public sector financial institutions) is now at its lowest since Q4 2001 and in percentage terms the lowest in the current data set (1999 - 2011).