PUBLIC SECTOR WAGE AND SALARY EARNERS
Estimates of the number of wage and salary earners (employees) in the public sector are currently obtained from the quarterly Survey of Employment and Earnings - Public Sector (SEE). This survey is being replaced by an annual survey, commencing with the 2007-08 reference year. The final set of quarterly data from the SEE relate to May 2007. Data from the 2007-08 survey are expected to be released in January 2009.
In trend terms, there were 1,662,300 public sector employees in Australia in May 2007, 5% of whom (88,100) worked in the ACT. Nationally, the Commonwealth Government employed 230,800 persons, with 30% of these (69,400 persons) working in the ACT.
In May 2007 the SEE recorded 18,700 persons (in trend terms) who were employed in state government within the ACT. Nationally, state governments employed 1,262,000 people, while local governments employed 169,500 people.
Additional information on persons employed within the ACT public service are provided in Chapter 3 - Government.
