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Last updated: 11 October 2005
Managing and sustaining the APS workforce
3. Workforce trends
The ageing APS workforce
Figures 7 and 8 demonstrate the ageing of the APS population over the past 20 years. During this time the average age of APS employees has risen from 32 to 41. Indeed, the proportion of ongoing staff aged 45 and over is now around 39% and rising.
Figure 7: Ongoing staff by age group, 1984 to 2004
Source: APSED
Figure 8: Ongoing engagements by age group, 1983-84 to 2003-04
Source: APSED
There are a number of factors contributing to the ageing of the APS workforce, namely:
- The ageing of the baby boomers. In the mid-1980s, around 70% of all APS staff were born between 1950 and 1964, and, two decades later, still close to 50% of all APS staff were born during this period.
- A substantial decline in the employment of junior staff. This has reduced significantly the opportunities for young people with no educational or work experience to join the APS. While nearly 30% of new recruits to the APS in 1983-84 were aged under 20, this was true of only 3% of those recruited in 2003-04.
- Increased recruitment of experienced, mature workers from other sectors. More than 40% of new recruits today are aged 35 or over, compared to less than 20% two decades ago.
This gradual ageing of the APS workforce has been accompanied by a downward trend in the average age at which staff retire or resign from the APS. As was documented in Organisational Renewal, a major factor in this trend was the incentive under the old Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme for staff to retire at 54 years and 11 months (a process generally known as '54/11'), although staff in the newer Public Sector Superannuation Scheme have also been demonstrating a strong tendency to retire in their mid-50s.10
One impact of this downward trend in retirement ages is that, while the proportion of APS employees aged between 45 and 54 has grown substantially over the past two decades, the proportion aged 55 and over has increased more slowly from 7.5% in 1984 to just over 9% today.
Consequently, as Organisational Renewal showed, the average age of APS employees exceeds that of the general Australian labour force, but the proportion of APS workers aged 55 and over is lower than the labour force average.11
Agencies are increasingly seeking to retain or re-employ some of these departing employees and to recruit other talented older workers. The proportion of new entrants to the APS aged 55 or more has trebled over the past decade. However, this rate still represents only one engagement for every four separations of staff in their mid-50s or above.
If agencies succeed in attracting and retaining more employees aged 55 and over, the average age of the APS workforce is likely to continue to rise for many years.
There is a significant risk that the ageing of the workforce, combined with a growing tendency for workers to remain in the same position for extended periods, could lead to a decline in innovation and creativity across the APS. The regular introduction of younger workers into the APS-including students leaving tertiary education institutions across Australia who are recruited through graduate programmes to work in agency head offices in Canberra-has represented an important means of enlivening the workforce. This brings new perspectives and the latest knowledge to bear on the key challenges facing the Australian Government. It is important that these recruitment and career pathways do not become blocked.
Another major issue arising from the ageing of the workforce, and from the tendency for APS staff to retire or resign in their mid-50s, is that of a growing need for leadership succession planning. A very high turnover of APS managers can be expected over the next 10 years, given that more than 55% of EL 2 officers and 70% of the SES are aged 45 or more.
Traditionally, the feeder group for the SES has comprised a somewhat younger cadre of experienced career APS officers. However, this feeder group is now ageing at the same rate as the SES and also features a growing element of older staff who have been recently recruited to the APS from other sectors. Most of these new recruits will not have the depth and breadth of experience in APS and Australian Government values and processes that they need to advance quickly to more senior management roles.
10 Management Advisory Committee 2003, Organisational Renewal, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, pp. 72-94.
11 ibid., p.15.
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