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The past decade has seen considerable change in the structure of the APS. A period of restructure and reduction in size and function has been followed by some growth. In addition to this, there have been changes in the profile of the APS, with fewer jobs at lower levels, an ageing workforce and an increasing proportion of women. These trends have been evident for some years, and several are likely to continue.

This chapter explores current and time series demographic and labour force patterns of staff employed under the PS Act. The main source of data is the APS Employment Database (APSED), maintained by the Commission.¹ APSED contains information about recruitment, mobility, and separations for all ongoing and non-ongoing staff. Further information on the size and composition of the APS can be found in the Australian Public Service Statistical Bulletin 2003—04.²

1 While every effort is made to ensure the integrity of APSED data, the APS Commission cannot be held responsible for inaccuracies in the data provided by agencies. The Commission undertakes extensive audits of the data, and as a result of these audits the Commission corrects errors in historical data. For this reason, caution should be exercised when comparing the data presented in this report with that from earlier years. Most significantly, previously published data on staff numbers may have been revised and therefore may not be directly comparable. Due to different data sources and definitions, there may be variations between the data published here and that published by individual agencies.

2 Conceptual definitions used in workforce analysis are set out in the Introduction and Explanatory Notes to the APS Statistical Bulletin.