Workforce profile

Length of service

The median length of service in the APS for ongoing employees at June 2007 was seven years. Figure 2.11 shows the profile of length of service over the past 15 years. The number of employees with fewer than five years of service has risen steadily since 1999, reflecting the growth in engagements over this period. As a proportion of all ongoing employees, those with fewer than five years of service has risen from 28.0% in 2000 to 36.2% in 2007. In the past five years there have been 76,299 ongoing engagements, compared with 51,942 in the five years before that.

Figure 2.11: Ongoing employees—length of service, 1993 to 2007

Chart: description available below

Figure 2.11 shows the proportion of ongoing employees in various length of service groupings, from 1993 to 2007. It shows strong growth in the Under 5 years group since 1999, reflecting the strong growth in engagements since that time.

Source: APSED

The median length of service for ongoing employees has remained steady for the past two years at seven years. The median has varied from eight years in 1993 to 10 years between 1997 and 2002, reflecting a period of fewer engagements. Trend data is not yet sufficient to detect any long-term length of service impact from any greater mobility of Generations X and Y employees.