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APS at a glance - All staff
At 30 June 2007 there were 155,482 staff in the APS. This total comprised:
- 143,525 ongoing staff (up by 6.5% from 134,802 in June 2006)
- 11,957 non-ongoing staff (up by 4.6% from 11,432 in June 2006).
During 2006–07:
- 19,246 ongoing employees were engaged (down by 7.8% from 20,884 in 2005–06). The number of engagements during 2005–06 was inflated due to the movement of Medicare Australia into coverage of the PS Act.
- 10,465 ongoing employees separated from the APS (up by 9.9% from 9,521 in 2005–06)
- 548 employees moved into coverage of the PS Act, of these 89.6% (491) were ongoing staff (these are included in ongoing engagements).
Figure 1: All staff by employment category and sex, June 2006 and 2007
Figure 1 shows the number of men and women in ongoing and non-ongoing employment at June 2006 and June 2007.
Source: Table 1
Size of the Australian Public Service
At June 2007 there were 155,482 staff in the Australian Public Service employed under the PS Act. This represented an increase of 6.3% in comparison with the June 2006 number of 146,234. Table 1 shows ongoing and non-ongoing employee numbers by sex from June 1993 to June 2007.
There was strong growth in ongoing staff numbers during 2006–07, increasing from 134,802 employees at June 2006 to 143,525 employees at June 2007 (an increase of 6.5%). The largest increases in ongoing staff numbers were in Defence (1,503 or 8.1%), Centrelink (1,246 or 4.9%) and Human Services (744 or 14.1%). These three agencies accounted for more than forty percent of the increase in ongoing staff numbers. The largest reduction in ongoing staff numbers was in ATO (down by 187 or 0.9%) and Veterans’ Affairs (down by 78 or 3.4%).
Non-ongoing staff numbers rose by 4.6%, from 11,432 at June 2006 to 11,957 at June 2007. Agencies with the largest increase in non-ongoing employment were ATO (740), Health (154) and Human Services (149). Agencies with the largest reduction in non-ongoing employment included Centrelink (505), ABS (309), Immigration (199) and DEWR (139).
Appendix 4 ‘PS Act coverage changes’ and Appendix 5 ‘Changes to Administrative Arrangements, 2006–07’ should be carefully noted when examining tables that compare agency numbers from one year to the next.
Size of agencies
The 10 agencies listed in Table A accounted for over two-thirds of total APS staff (ongoing and non-ongoing) at June 2007. The ranking of the three largest agencies has remained unchanged for the last seven years. These three account for just under half of the total APS staff.
| Agency | No. of staff at June 2007 | % of total APS staff |
|---|---|---|
| Centrelink | 27,296 | 17.6 |
| Australian Taxation Office | 23,110 | 14.9 |
| Defence | 21,177 | 13.6 |
| Immigration | 6,788 | 4.4 |
| Human Services | 6,433 | 4.1 |
| Medicare Australia | 5,959 | 3.8 |
| Australian Customs Services | 5,904 | 3.8 |
| Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry | 4,951 | 3.2 |
| Health & Ageing | 4,830 | 3.1 |
| DEWR | 3,862 | 2.5 |
| Total | 110,310 | 70.9 |
| Source: Table 2 | ||
Ongoing staff
Composition
At June 2007 ongoing employees accounted for 92.3% of the APS, a slight increase in their representation from the previous year.
The number of ongoing employees working part-time rose by 10.3% during 2006–07 (up from 15,207 or 11.3% at June 2006 to 16,769 or 11.7% at June 2007). Women are more likely to work part-time with 18.1% working part-time at June 2007 compared with 3.3% of men. The number of men working part-time increased by 16.3% from 1,753 at June 2006 to 2038 at June 2007.
Classification
At June 1993, the APS 3–4 and APS 5–6 classification groups accounted for almost equal proportions of ongoing staff with 27.5% and 25.5% respectively. The proportion in the APS 1–2 classification group was somewhat higher at 30.0%. By June 2007, the APS 1–2 level had fallen to just 5.0% of all ongoing employees. Over the same period, the proportion of staff at the APS 3–4 and APS 5–6 levels rose, with each group now accounting for over a third of all ongoing staff.
Representation of Executive Level (EL) employees has risen from 14.1% to 23.7% over the same period. The size of the Senior Executive Service (SES) has fluctuated between 1.3% and 1.7% and is currently 1.7%.
At June 2007, trainees and graduate trainees accounted for 1.1% of ongoing staff. It should be noted that the number of graduate trainees does not represent the number of graduates recruited at all levels. During 2006–07, 61.5% of ongoing employees engaged were graduates.1
Figure 2 below shows the change in the number of employees by classification as a proportion of total ongoing employees over the last 15 years.
Figure 2: Ongoing employees by classification group, June 1993 to June 2007
Figure 2 shows the changes over fifteen years to June 2007 in the proportion of ongoing employees at selected classifications.
Source: Table 8
Senior Executive Service
At June 2007, there were 2,509 ongoing SES employees in the APS, up from 2,257 last year. The proportional increase in the size of the SES (11.2%) was larger than the growth in the APS overall (6.5%).
The composition of the SES has generally remained stable over the last 15 years. At June 2007, SES Band 1 employees comprised just under three quarters of the SES at 74.9%, with SES Band 2 at 20.4% and SES Band 3 at 4.8%.
The major change in the SES over the last 15 years has been the steady increase in the representation of women, from 15.3% at June 1993 to 36.1% at June 2007. Women are still concentrated at lower levels in the SES, although this year the strongest proportional growth for women was at SES Band 2, where their representation increased from 126 to 166 people—a rise of 31.7%.
Figure 3: Ongoing employees, proportion of women by SES band, June 1993 to June 2007
Figure 3 shows women’s representation at each of the SES bands, from June 2003 to June 2007.
Source: Table 8
Age
The median age of ongoing APS employees at June 2007 was 42 years. The number of employees in the under 25 age group rose from 6,028 to 7,127 (an increase in proportional terms from 4.5% to 5.0%) during 2006–07. Over the 15 years to June 2007 this group’s representation has fallen from 8.7% to 5.0% of all ongoing employees.
The strongest growth in recent years has been in the representation of older age groups. Fifteen years ago, employees in the 45–54 age group represented 20.8% of all employees. By June 2007 they represented 29.8%. Similarly, the 55 and over age group has increased from 5.6% to 11.2% over the past 15 years.
Male and Female Employment
Over the past 15 years, women’s representation in the APS has increased from 47.4% to 56.6% of ongoing employees. In general, women are still employed at lower classification levels than men, but the gap is decreasing. Fifteen years ago, 70.0% of women were in the APS 1–4 group, but this had decreased to 47.1% at June 2007. For men, 46.2% were in the APS 1–4 group 15 years ago, compared with 30.1% at June 2007. Changes in women’s representation by classification over the past 15 years are shown in Figure 4 below.
Figure 4: Ongoing employees, proportion of women in selected classification groups, June 1993 to June 2007
Figure 4 shows women’s representation at selected classifications, from June 2003 to June 2007.
Source: Table 8
Location
Almost two-thirds of APS staff are located outside Canberra. There was a slight increase in the proportion of ongoing staff based in the ACT (from 35.0% to 35.7%) in the year to June 2007.
The following table shows the distribution of ongoing staff by location.
| State/Territory | No. of staff | % of APS staff |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Capital Territory | 51,281 | 35.7 |
| New South Wales | 28,255 | 19.7 |
| Victoria | 23,634 | 16.5 |
| Queensland | 16,929 | 11.8 |
| South Australia | 8,672 | 6.0 |
| Western Australia | 8,173 | 5.7 |
| Tasmania | 3,390 | 2.4 |
| Northern Territory | 2,079 | 1.4 |
| Overseas | 1,112 | 0.8 |
| Total | 143,525 | 100.0 |
| Source: Table 20 | ||
Engagements
Over the 2006–07 financial year there were 19,246 engagements of ongoing employees. Excluding the movement of Medicare Australia into coverage of the PS Act in 2005–06, this was the third year in which the number of engagements grew. During 2006–07, the agencies with the largest number of engagements were Centrelink (3,658), Defence (2,727), Human Services (1,242) Medicare Australia (1,119) and ATO (1,070).
Women comprised 60.8% of ongoing engagements during the financial year 2006–07. Over half of engagements for women were at the APS 3–4 level.
Fifteen years ago, 52.8% of engagements were at the APS 1–2 level; in 2006–07, this had dropped to 8.1%. In contrast, the APS 3–4 group increased from 16.7% to 49.8% over the same period. This classification group now accounts for most ‘base-level’ recruitment. Figure 5 below shows the proportion of engagements by classification over the last 15 years.
Figure 5: Ongoing engagements: proportion in selected classification groups, 1992–93 to 2006–07
Figure 5 shows the proportion of engagements at selected classifications, from 1992–93 to 2006–07.
Source: Table 24
Separations
There were 10,465 separations of ongoing staff in 2006–07. This was an increase of 944 (or 9.9%) over last year’s figure of 9,521. Resignations were the most common form of separation in both years. As a proportion of all separations, resignations have increased from 45.1% in 1992–93 to 73.6% in 2006–07. There has, however, been considerable variation over the 15 years. In general, resignations have been lower in those years where the rate of voluntary redundancies has been higher. These trends are shown in Figure 6 below.
Figure 6: Ongoing employees: selected separations as a proportion of total separations, 1992–93 to 2006–07
Figure 6 shows resignations, age retirements and retrenchments as a proportion of all separations, from 1992–93 to 2006–07.
Source: Table 36
Women accounted for 54.6% of resignations during 2006–07, slightly less than their representation in the APS workforce. Of people resigning, more than one in five (21.6%) had been working in the APS for less than a year.
Almost one quarter (23.4%) of men who took an age retirement had been employed for over 30 years in comparison with 7.5% of women.
The overall separation rate is calculated as the total number of separations during the financial year divided by the average number of employees at 30 June 2006 and 30 June 2007. During 2006–07 the separation rate was 7.5%. This value cannot be compared with a similar measure at agency level as the former does not take into account movements of employees between agencies. The agency retention rate in Table 12 should be used at agency level when assessing agency ‘turnover’.
Educational Qualifications2
Of those ongoing employees who have supplied information about their educational qualifications, 53.0% have a bachelor degree or higher. Men are more likely than women to have graduate qualifications—55.4% compared with 50.8% for women. Indigenous employees (28.1%) are much less likely to have graduate qualifications and NESB1 employees (74.7%) are much more likely than the APS average of 53.0%. Those with a disability are somewhat less likely to have graduate qualifications (42.9%) compared with the APS overall.
Figure 7: Ongoing employees: EEO group by highest educational qualification, June 2007
Figure 7 shows highest education qualifications for employees in EEO groups at June 2007
Source: Table 49
1. The method used to calculate the proportion of employees with graduate or tertiary qualifications includes those with qualifications at bachelor degree and above. It excludes from the denominator those for whom no data was provided by agencies, and those who chose not to provide details of their highest educational qualification.
2. The method used to calculate the proportion of employees with graduate or tertiary qualifications includes those with qualifications at bachelor degree and above. It excludes from the denominator those for whom no data was provided by agencies, and those who chose not to provide details of their highest educational qualification.
