Go to main text : Contact the Commission : Privacy

Who we are

examines the people who make up the Australian Public Service- not only their numbers but how they reflect the community. It includes the following chapters:

2. Workforce profile

3. Diversity

Chapter 2: Workforce profile

There have been a lot of changes in the size and structure of the APS over the past 15 years. The earlier years were characterised by a period of restructure and reduction in size and functions. Since 2000 there has been considerable growth in the size of the APS, while structural changes have continued—a shift towards a higher classification profile, greater numbers of female employees and an ageing workforce.

This chapter explores time series demographic and structural patterns for people employed under the Public Service Act 1999 (the Act)—the current picture as well as changes over the past 15 years. The main source of data for the chapter is the APS Employment Database (APSED) which is maintained by the Commission.¹ APSED contains information about recruitment, mobility and separations for all ongoing and non-ongoing employees. Further information on the size and composition of the APS can be found in the Australian Public Service Statistical Bulletin 2007–08.²

APS staffing

Initiatives from the 2006–07 Budget continue to drive APS growth, but this growth has started to slow. During 2007–08, employee numbers grew by 3.0%, which compares to growth in the previous two years of 9.5% (2005–06) and 6.3% (2006–07).

The additional efficiency dividend introduced from 1 March 2008 affected some agencies’ staffing numbers by June 2008, with further impacts likely as a result of the decreases in average staffing levels for some APS agencies announced in the 2008–09 Budget (and effective from July 2008).

Engagements to the APS slowed in the second half of the year and separations from the APS (11,946) were the highest number recorded since 1998–99.

A number of agencies were affected by machinery of government changes following the November 2007 federal election. Due to the significant change in structure of some of these agencies, they are generally not included in year-on-year comparisons in this chapter.

There were 160,011 APS employees at June 2008 compared with 155,419 at June 2007. Adjusted for coverage changes, the increase in APS employment during 2007–08 was 2.6%.

Figure 2.1 shows the change in total staff numbers from 1989 to 2008. The adjusted line takes account of coverage changes in the APS over the period, by adjusting the total for the number of employees performing those functions at the time that the function moved into or out of coverage of the Act.

Excluding agencies affected by machinery of government changes during 2007–08, those with the largest growth in total employees were ATO (an increase of 1,362 or 5.9% due to the planned expansion of compliance activities and to manage workloads in the Operations area), Defence (435 or 2.1%), Customs (381 or 6.5%) and DIAC (325 or 4.8%). Smaller agencies with large proportional increases included the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) (82 or 31.8%), the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) (65 or 38.0%), CrimTrac (64 or 80.0%), the Federal Magistrates Court of Australia (FMC) (58 or 35.4%), the Australian Research Council (ARC) (28 or 37.8%) and the Future Fund Management Agency (FFMA) (27 or 225.0%). The largest decreases were in Centrelink (a drop of 1,141 or 4.2%), ABS (144 or 4.6%), the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) (103 or 11.6%) and the National Capital Authority (NCA) (47 or 44.3%).

Twelve per cent of the increase in total APS numbers during 2007–08 (549 employees) was due to machinery of government changes involving existing Australian Government agencies moving into coverage of the Act. APVMA (141 ongoing and non-ongoing employees), the Export Wheat Commission (EWC) (16 employees) and the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman (PHIO) (11 employees) were all non-APS Commonwealth bodies which moved into coverage. Also, 380 employees of the Mersey Campus of the North West Regional Hospital in Tasmania became non-ongoing employees of DoHA. One employee moved into the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) from the ACT Government.

The Office of the Workplace Ombudsman (WO) took over the functions of the Office of Workplace Services (OWS), which was abolished. The Workplace Authority was established and took over functions and staff from the Office of the Employment Advocate which was formerly part of DEWR.

A range of other machinery of government changes resulted in the movement of staff between agencies covered by the Act. Following the November 2007 federal election, four departments—DCITA, DEST, DEWR and DITR—were abolished and their functions moved to a number of new departments, including DBCDE, DEEWR, DIISR and RET. DOTARS was renamed Infrastructure, which also gained a number of functions, and DEW was renamed DEWHA. Also, FaCSIA was renamed FaHCSIA, and Finance and Administration was renamed Finance and Deregulation. DCC was established, gaining functions from DEW and PM&C. Over 12,000 ongoing and non-ongoing employees were moved between agencies as a result of machinery of government changes during 2007–08. A full list of changes to administrative arrangements during the year can be found in the Australian Public Service Statistical Bulletin 2007–08.

Ongoing and non-ongoing employees

The increase in overall employment during 2007–08 reflected growth in both the ongoing and non-ongoing employment categories. Ongoing employees grew more in actual numbers, but the proportional growth was higher for non-ongoing employment.

Ongoing employees

During 2007–08, ongoing employment grew by 3,856 or 2.7%, from 143,742 at June 2007 to 147,598 at June 2008. This was a deceleration in the rate of growth compared to the increases of 9.2% in 2005–06 and 6.6% in 2006–07.

Excluding agencies affected by machinery of government changes, the largest increases in ongoing employee numbers were in ATO (1,160 or 5.4%), Defence (671 or 3.3%) and Customs (369 or 6.4%). Smaller agencies with large proportional increases were AUSTRAC (83 or 33.3%), CrimTrac (58 or 72.5%), the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (58 or 38.4%) and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) (48 or 26.7%). The largest decreases in ongoing employee numbers occurred in Centrelink (1,203 or 4.5%) and ABS (132 or 4.4%).

Non-ongoing employees

Non-ongoing employee numbers grew this year by 736 or 6.3%, from 11,677 at June 2007 to 12,413 at June 2008. This compared with an increase of 3.1% in 2006–07. Non-ongoing employees accounted for 7.8% of all employees at June 2008, a slight rise from 7.5% the previous year. Excluding the non-ongoing employees of the Mersey Hospital, the proportion of non-ongoing employees would not have changed.³

Over time, there have been large shifts in the use of non-ongoing employment in individual agencies. This variation suggests that non-ongoing employment is being used flexibly by agencies to deal with peaks and troughs in work demands. This year, the largest increases in non-ongoing employee numbers—excluding agencies affected by machinery of government changes—were in DIAC (266 or 73.5%, associated with implementation of the Citizenship Test and visa administration) and ATO (202 or 11.6%). The number of non-ongoing employees fell in Defence (down by 236 or 22.6%).

The long-term trend has been a reduction in the representation of non-ongoing employees as a proportion of all employees, although this appears to have stabilised in the past few years at around 8%. Figure 2.2 shows how non-ongoing employment as a proportion of total employment has changed over time. While the proportion has risen slightly this year, it is still considerably lower than it was 15 years ago. As a proportion of the total APS, non-ongoing employment has fallen from 11.6% in 1994 to 7.8% in 2008. The representation rate for women has consistently been higher than that for men over this period.

As Figure 2.2 shows, women are more likely to be employed on a non-ongoing basis. At June 2008, 62.8% of non-ongoing employees were women compared with 57.1% of ongoing employees.

Agencies with the largest number of non-ongoing employees at June 2008 were ATO (1,937 or 7.9% of total employees), DoHA (1,025 or 18.7%) and Defence (810 or 3.7%). Centrelink has substantially reduced its use of non-ongoing employees in recent years. At June 2008, 741 or 2.8% of Centrelink’s employees were non-ongoing.

Non-ongoing employees can be engaged in three different categories: specified term, specified task or for duties that are irregular or intermittent. At June 2008, the majority (73.2%) were engaged for a specified term, 8.1% for a specified task and 18.7% for irregular or intermittent duties. Agencies’ use of the different non-ongoing categories varies considerably.

Non-ongoing employees have historically been concentrated at lower classification levels—at June 2008, 67.2% were at the APS 1–4 levels compared with 37.8% of ongoing employees.

Overall representation of non-ongoing employees is much lower at higher classifications—only 3.7% of EL employees are non-ongoing compared with the APS average of 7.8%. The exception is in the SES bands where the proportion employed on a non-ongoing basis is higher for Band 3s (10.3%) than for Band 1s (3.7%) or Band 2s (7.4%). While still strong, the general concentration of non-ongoing employees at lower classifications has fallen over time.

Male and female employment

Growth in female employment, evident for some years now, has continued this year, with increased female employment across a range of agencies, including in traditionally less feminised agencies. The total number of women rose from 88,577 to 92,142, an increase of 4.0%. The number of men rose from 66,842 to 67,869, an increase of 1.5%. Trends for total employment by sex are shown in Figure 2.3. Women now comprise 57.6% of total APS employment, continuing a long-term rise in representation.

Women have outnumbered men in the APS since 1999. During 2007–08, the number of ongoing women employees increased by 3.7% to 84,346 at June 2008, compared with an increase of 1.4% for men, to 63,252 at June 2008. The increase in non-ongoing employment was also greater for women than for men during 2007–08—7.7% compared with 4.1%.

Despite growing levels of female employment across the APS, there is still considerable variation between agencies in the proportional representation of men and women. Of agencies with more than 1,000 ongoing employees, Medicare (80.9%) had the highest proportion of women, followed by DHS (75.5%).⁴ Large agencies with the highest proportion of men were the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) (78.7%) and Defence (60.8%). During 2007–08, the comparatively high representation of women fell slightly in Medicare and DHS (down from 81.2% and 75.8% respectively at June 2007), while the proportion of men also dropped slightly in both BoM and Defence (down from 79.3% and 62.0% respectively at June 2007).

Part-time employees

At June 2008, 12.2% of ongoing employees were working part-time, up from 11.7% last year. Women are still much more likely to work part-time, with 18.8% working part-time at June 2008 compared with 3.4% of men. These trends are shown in Figure 2.4.

Centrelink is the largest employer of part-time employees in the APS with 5,395 or 30.0% of all ongoing part-time APS employees at June 2008. This group accounted for 21.2% of Centrelink’s ongoing workforce—almost twice the APS average. Other agencies with large numbers of part-time employees were ATO (2,261), DHS (1,259), Medicare (1,144), DAFF (868) and Defence (863).

Non-ongoing employees are much more likely to work part-time—30.1% of non-ongoing employees were working part-time at June 2008.

Part-time work by age

Part-time work for women is highest in the 30–44 age group, with 26.4% of ongoing women in this age group working part-time at June 2008. For men, the proportion working part-time in this age group was 3.9%—much lower than for women but still somewhat higher than the proportion for men (3.4%). The proportion working part-time is lower for employees in the 45–54 age group, before rising again for older workers (i.e. those aged 55 years and over) who are more likely to work part-time as they age (see Figure 2.5).

The trend towards part-time working arrangements for older workers continued this year with 7.3% of those aged 55–59 and 9.5% of those aged 60 and over working part-time (up from 7.0% and 9.0% respectively last year).

Classification structures

Table 2.1 compares ongoing employee numbers by classification, at June 1994, 2007 and 2008. In the past year, numbers rose at all classification levels above APS 3. The number of ongoing employees at the APS 1 level fell by 452 or 29.9%. This was due mainly to a large decline in the number of APS 1s employed by Medicare Australia which still has the largest number of APS 1s in the APS. Nevertheless, excluding Medicare, the number of APS 1s still dropped by 14.2% during 2007–08.

Table 2.1: Ongoing employees by classification, 1994, 2007 and 2008⁵

	1994		2007		2008		% change 2007 to 2008	% change 1994 to 2008
Classification	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Source: APSED
APS 1	20804	14.7	1511	1.1	1059	0.7	-29.9	-94.9
APS 2	17893	12.6	5563	3.9	5177	3.5	-6.9	-71.1
APS 3	24905	17.6	21470	14.9	20474	13.9	-4.6	-17.8
APS 4	17052	12.0	28362	19.7	29014	19.7	2.3	70.2
APS 5	17038	12.0	19844	13.8	20409	13.8	2.8	19.8
APS 6	20064	14.2	28641	19.9	30090	20.4	5.1	50.0
EL 1	12769	9.0	22501	15.7	24638	16.7	9.5	93.0
EL 2	7884	5.6	11660	8.1	12361	8.4	6.0	56.8
SES Band 1	1361	1.0	1898	1.3	2015	1.4	6.2	48.1
SES Band 2	396	0.3	518	0.4	538	0.4	3.9	35.9
SES Band 3	100	0.1	119	0.1	139	0.1	16.8	39.0
Trainee	265	0.2	399	0.3	401	0.3	0.5	51.3
Graduate APS	708	0.5	1256	0.9	1283	0.9	2.1	81.2
Total	141776	100.0	143742	100.0	147598	100.0	2.7	4.1

Consistent with last year’s result, the largest increase in classification size this year was for the EL 1 cohort (up by 2,137 or 9.5%). The APS 6 cohort remains the largest size category of employment in the APS. The SES grew by 157 or 6.2%.

The number of ongoing employees in the trainee classification at June 2008 was 401, almost unchanged from the previous year. Some agencies engage trainees at the APS 1–2 levels rather than in the actual trainee classifications, so variations over time may not necessarily reflect agencies’ use of trainees more broadly.

During the past 15 years, there has been a consistent and strong shift in the classification profile of the APS, with a decline in the proportion of employees at the APS 1–2 levels (down 23.1 percentage points) and increases at higher levels with APS 5–6 up by 6.0 percentage points and ELs by 10.5 percentage points. As a proportion of all ongoing employees, the SES has risen from 1.3% at June 1994 to 1.8% at June 2008. Put another way, the APS 1–6 levels have dropped from 83.1% of all ongoing staff at June 1994 to 72.0% at June 2008. Over the same period, EL and SES employees have risen from 15.9% to 26.9%. The graduate and trainee cohorts have grown slightly over the same period—from 0.7% in 1994 to 1.1% in 2008. Part of the decline at lower classification levels may be attributed to changes in coverage of the Act, with a relatively high proportion of employees at lower levels moving out of coverage over the past 15 years. The trend in engagements, however, parallels the shift to a higher classification profile, and has had a much larger impact on overall numbers than net coverage changes have.

This trend towards a higher classification profile reflects the changing nature of APS employment, with a more skilled workforce undertaking increasingly complex and difficult roles, as well as the outsourcing of a number of low skill functions. Other factors that might explain this shift are discussed in Chapter 4.

Women by classification

Despite the continued growth in women’s representation in the APS, there is still a substantial difference between the classification profiles of men and women, particularly at higher classifications. Figure 2.6 shows the proportion of men and women at selected classifications at June 2008. Women outnumber men at all classifications up to and including APS 6, with the proportion of women falling sharply at higher levels. Fifteen years ago, the ‘cross-over’ point was APS 4. Based on current trends, women are likely to reach equal representation at the EL 1 classification within two years.

Despite the long-term inequity at higher classifications, there have been significant gains for women over time, particularly at these higher classifications, as shown in Figure 2.7. In this graph, each number is weighted using the total number of ongoing employees at June 1994 as a base.⁶ The growth in the representation of women at the EL and SES classifications has been substantially higher than their growth at lower classifications. Women’s representation at the APS 1–2 levels has declined, as has the number of APS 1–2 employees overall.

At June 2008, women comprised 37.0% of the SES (up from 36.1% in 2007) and 45.0% of EL employees (up from 43.5% in 2007).

Figure 2.8 shows that women’s representation among promotions to the EL and SES classifications was higher than their representation at these levels. This trend has been evident for some years, and suggests that women’s representation at higher classifications will continue to increase. Engagement rates for women were slightly lower than their representation in the EL and SES classification groups. The number of promotions in these classification groups is significantly higher than the number of engagements, so the effect of women’s higher promotion rate on the overall representation rate for women will have more impact in the long-term.

The trend towards greater representation for women in the EL and SES classifications is reinforced by looking at their representation in different age groups. Representation of women in both the EL and SES classification groups is higher for younger age groups. In particular, women account for more than half (54.7%) of all ELs aged under 40 and 42.9% of SES aged under 40.

The large agencies with the highest representation of women at higher classifications are DoHA (56.4% of SES and 63.5% of ELs are women), DEEWR (55.4% and 55.8%), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) (51.7% and 46.0%), Customs (49.1% and 36.1%) and FaHCSIA (48.1% and 63.1%). The large agencies with the lowest representation of women at higher classifications are BoM (21.4% of SES and 16.1% of ELs are women), Finance (22.9% and 47.0%), Defence (24.5% and 25.4%), DAFF (26.1% and 41.1%) and Infrastructure (26.8% and 33.1%).

Mobility within the APS

Figure 2.9 shows how mobility between agencies has varied over the past 10 years with periods of decline, stability and growth. During 2007–08, total mobility fell slightly with a promotion rate of 0.9% and a transfer rate of 1.9%. Over the 10 years, the transfer rate has been higher than the promotion rate, with variation in the transfer rate accounting for most of the variation in total mobility over the period.

Mobility between agencies is higher for women than for men. During 2007–08, the overall mobility rate (including both promotions and transfers) was 3.0% for women and 2.6% for men. Mobility is generally higher at higher classification levels, and particularly high for women in the SES. The proportion of women in the SES who have worked in three or more agencies is 35.3% compared with 29.6% for men.

During 2007–08, mobility fell slightly for APS 1–6 employees and ELs but rose for SES employees—from 4.9% to 6.1%. Over the past 10 years, mobility rates have been highest for SES employees, followed by the EL and APS classification groups.

Initiatives to improve mobility between agencies include Branching Out, a feature of the APSjobs website that facilitates employees wishing to transfer between agencies. The Career Transition and Support Centre, which was established within the Commission in May 2008 to help APS staff declared potentially excess by their agency to find jobs in other agencies, has assisted a number of employees to do so.

Educational qualifications

Data for APSED, while incomplete, shows 52.5% of ongoing employees have graduate qualifications, up slightly from 52.1% last year.⁷ The proportion with graduate qualifications is higher for men than for women (55.7% compared with 49.8%). Twenty years ago the proportion of ongoing employees with graduate qualifications was only 30.4%.

The long-term trend is for an increase in the engagement of people who have graduate qualifications. During 2007–08, 60.6% of those engaged had graduate qualifications. This contrasts with around one-third 20 years ago, although there was a slight reduction in the proportion of engagements with graduate qualifications during 2007–08 (down from 61.0% the previous year). This may reflect the increased proportion of engagements this year of trainees—a group who are less likely to have qualifications. The quality of data on educational qualifications provided by agencies continues to be very disappointing. Agencies provided data for only one-third of those engaged during 2007–08.

Type of work

Many different types of work are performed in the APS. The largest proportion of respondents to the employee survey this year (24%) reported being involved in service delivery to the general public. One-fifth of employees are engaged in corporate services. Other common categories include exercising regulatory control (13%), and administrative support and policy (both 10%).

Table 2.2 shows how the type of work performed across the APS varies by classification. APS 1–6 employees are most likely to be working in roles where they deliver services to the public; EL employees are most likely to be working in corporate services or policy roles; and SES employees are in policy or programme design and/or management roles.

Table 2.2: Employee identified type of work by classification, 2007–08

	Classification
Source: Employee survey
	APS 1–6 %	EL 1–2 %	SES %	Total %
Policy (e.g. development, review and/or evaluation)	6	20	34	10
Research	4	9	3	6
Programme design and/or management	6	18	24	9
Service delivery to the general public (e.g. call centres, shopfront/ counter service)	30	5	10	24
Exercising regulatory authority	14	10	6	13
Legal (including developing and/or reviewing legislation)	2	5	8	3
Corporate services	18	28	15	20
Administrative support/clerical (e.g. executive/personal assistant)	13	2	0	10
Other	7	4	1	6

Age profile

At June 2008, the median age of ongoing employees was 42 years (44 years for men and 40 years for women). This was unchanged from the previous three years. The largest age group is the 45–49 years age group. Over one-quarter of all ongoing employees (25.9%) are now aged 50 years or over and 11.9% are aged 55 years or over, up from 25.1% and 11.2% respectively last year.

Representation of young people (i.e. those aged under 25 years) fell this year. At June 2008, 4.9% of ongoing employees were aged under 25 years—0.2% aged under 20 years and 4.7% in the 20 to 24 years age group. This was a slight fall in proportional terms from last year, after two years of relatively strong proportional growth for this cohort. Despite the reduction in the proportions, the actual number of ongoing employees aged under 25 years rose slightly, from 7,158 at June 2007 to 7,198 at June 2008.

Older age groups had the largest proportional growth in ongoing employment this year with the 60 years and over age group increasing by 14.8% and the 55 to 59 years age group increasing by 6.3%, compared with the increase for the APS overall of 2.7%. Altogether, employees aged 55 years or over now comprise 11.9% of the ongoing APS workforce, and this proportion has more than doubled since 1996 (5.6%). This strong growth in the number of older workers reflects the impact of policies to encourage older, skilled workers to either remain in the APS or to return after taking early retirement.

The 45 to 54 years age group is the largest group of ongoing employees, having increased from 25.0% to 29.9% since 1996. At the same time, the median age has risen, on average, one year for every three years, although it has remained steady for the past three years at 42 years. In 1996, the median age was 39 years.

Older workers are more likely to be working at higher classification levels and, in general, have longer lengths of service, compared to the average.

The ageing of the cohort at more senior classifications over the past 15 years is particularly evident: for example, at June 2008, 18.2% of SES and 12.2% of ELs were aged 55 years and over compared with 10.4% and 6.2% in 1994. Table 2.3 shows the proportion of ongoing employees in 10-year age groups, at June 1996, 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2008.

Table 2.3: Ongoing employees—proportion by age, 1996 to 2008

	1996	1999	2002	2005	2008
Source: APSED
Under 25	6.3	4.1	4.6	4.0	4.9
25-34	29.4	26.6	25.8	25.1	24.5
35-44	33.7	33.9	32.3	30.5	28.8
45-54	25.0	29.1	29.7	30.3	29.9
55 and over	5.6	6.3	7.6	10.1	11.9
Median age	39	40	41	42	42

The ageing of the APS workforce raises significant workforce planning and succession management challenges. Employees in the 45 years and over age group, who will be eligible for retirement in the next 10 years, account for 41.8% of ongoing employees, up from 41.0% last year and 27.7% in 1994. Succession management is discussed in Chapter 5 of this report, and is identified as a key pillar in terms of the APS putting in place an effective leadership strategy for the future.

As outlined above, growth was especially strong this year in the 60 years and over age group. This cohort has more than doubled in size over the past five years, from 2,564 at June 2003 to 5,022 at June 2007 and 5,763 at June 2008. As a proportion of all ongoing employees, employees aged 60 years and over have increased from 1.5% in 1994 to 2.1% in 2003 and 3.9% in 2008. Over 40% of this cohort has at least 20 years of service and 17.8% have 30 or more years of service.

During 2008, the Australian Government Actuary was commissioned to prepare an age projection for the APS up to 2022. The results of this projection, based on a combination of exit rates for the two main superannuation schemes, are shown in Figure 2.10. These projections show that as time elapses, the trend of an increasingly older workforce in the APS will continue. The projections are based on all staff (both ongoing and non-ongoing) and estimate that the median age for the APS will increase from 41 in 2007 to 43 by 2017 and 44 by 2022.

There is substantial variation in agencies’ age profiles. Those agencies with a relatively high proportion of employees aged 45 years and over may face more critical and different workforce planning and knowledge management issues than those with a younger age profile. Of the agencies with more than 1,000 ongoing employees, DVA and BoM (58.6% and 57.2% aged 45 years and over respectively) have the oldest age profiles. In contrast, AGD (30.9%) and Finance (31.3%) have the lowest proportion of staff aged 45 years and over.

The APS has an older age profile than the Australian labour force, with a much lower proportion of young people and more in the 35–54 years age group—at June 2008, 58.7% of ongoing employees were in this age group compared with only 44.7% of the Australian labour force.⁸ Despite the continuing growth in older workers in the APS, they are still under-represented compared with the broader labour force.

Length of service

The median length of service in the APS at June 2008 was eight years for ongoing employees. This is an increase from the previous year, reflecting a drop in ongoing engagements over the past two 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 plateaued this year, after rising for several years. As a proportion of all ongoing employees, this cohort has risen from 24.4% of all ongoing employees 10 years ago to 35.4% at June 2008.

The proportion of employees with 30 or more years of service has risen from 2.4% to 4.4% over the past 15 years.

Location

Over one-third (36.6%) of ongoing employees are located in Canberra. There has been a steady rise in this proportion for several years—in 1994, the proportion was 33.2%.

Although most agencies have their main office in Canberra, there is considerable variation in the level of Canberra and outside ACT employment. At June 2008, one-quarter of agencies had all their ongoing employees in the ACT, while over 10% had none based in Canberra. Twenty-six agencies had fewer than one-third of their ongoing employees in Canberra. Large agencies in this group included DVA (30.8%), Customs (26.4%), Medicare Australia (20.5%), ATO (14.8%), Centrelink (11.5%), BoM (1.0%) and ASIC (0.8%).

The proportion of employees located in Canberra increases at higher classification levels—at June 2008, over three-quarters of ongoing SES (75.1%) and 61.3% of ELs were employed in Canberra compared with only 15.1% of APS 3–4s and 12.2% of APS 1–2s (see Figure 2.12). The increase in Canberra-based employment over time is likely to reflect, in part, proportional increases in employment at these higher levels.

Engagements and separations

There were 15,790 engagements and 11,946 separations of ongoing employees during 2007–08. The number of engagements was lower than that for the previous year, and included a number of agencies moving into coverage of the Act, although these engagements had only a small impact on total engagements, involving just 148 ongoing employees. Separations were higher than in 2006–07 and the largest since 1998–99.

Figure 2.13 shows ongoing engagements and separations as a proportion of all ongoing employees for the past 15 years.

Engagements

This was the second year in a row that the number of ongoing engagements to the APS fell, although the long-term trend in the APS over the past 20 years has been upward.

The decline in engagements this year was particularly evident in the second half of the year. From July to December there were 9,103 engagements, falling to 6,687 in the period from January to June. This is a reversal of the result for the previous five-year periods when, on average, engagements were more concentrated in the second half of the year (47.5% in the first half and 52.5% in the second). This may reflect the impact on agencies of the additional efficiency dividend which took effect from March 2008.

Trainees were the only group in which engagements rose in actual numbers—from 393 in 2006–07 to 505 in 2007–08—an increase of 28.5%. The agencies which increased their recruitment of trainees included Customs (114 more than the previous year) and ATO (75). The number of graduate trainees engaged fell slightly (from 1,253 in 2006–07 to 1,221 in 2007–08), although the proportional decrease was not as great as for the APS overall.

Figure 2.14 shows the proportion of engagements by classification for the past 15 years. It confirms the long-term decline in engagements at the APS 1–2 levels. This decline has slowed in recent years, and APS 1–2 engagements have stabilised at around 10% of all ongoing engagements. Engagements at the APS 1 level fell from 764 to 502 this year, due mainly to less recruitment at this level by Medicare Australia (down from 453 to 286). Engagements fell proportionately at the APS 3–4 levels for the second year, although this group still accounts for close to half of all ongoing engagements to the APS.

Women accounted for 61.0% of all ongoing engagements during 2007–08—much the same level as in the previous year. Over time, though, female engagement has been increasing and in 1993–94 the proportion was 53.5%.

For the second consecutive year, the largest proportional growth in ongoing engagements during 2007–08 was in the under 25 years age group. This age group outnumbered the 35–44 age group again this year. The 55 years and over age group also rose proportionally, after falling slightly in 2006–07. Over the past 15 years, this age group has increased its share of engagements from 2.1% in 1993–94 to 4.4% in 2006–07 and 4.8% in 2007–08. The increase has been relatively steady since the removal of compulsory age 65 retirement in 1999.

Figure 2.15 shows changes in the age profile of ongoing engagements for the past 15 years.

The median age of engagements during 2007–08 was 32 years (33 years for men and 31 years for women). This has remained steady for the past five years, except for 2005–06 when the move of Medicare Australia into the APS skewed the engagement data. ATO (13.8%), Defence (13.1%) and Centrelink (9.5%) accounted for over one-third of all engagements during 2007–08.

Mobility between the APS and the wider labour market can be gauged by the proportion of employment opportunities filled by engagement (i.e. from outside the APS) as a proportion of opportunities filled by engagements and promotions. During 2007–08, 44.1% of employment opportunities were filled by engagement. This is a substantial decrease from 52.1% during 2006–07. Excluding ‘base-grade’ recruitment—the APS 1 to APS 3, Graduate APS and trainee classifications—the proportion of opportunities filled by engagement during 2007–08 was 29.2%, down from 36.0% the previous year. While the number of engagements fell by 18.7% during the year, the number of promotions rose by 12.0%. Promotions within an agency accounted for 93.5% of all promotions during 2007–08, up slightly from 92.6% the previous year.

Re-engagement and prior service

Of the 15,790 ongoing engagements during 2007–08, 1,849 (11.7%) had worked previously in the APS as ongoing employees. Of these, over one-quarter (491) were re-engaged by the same agency in which they had previously worked. The median length of service prior to re-engagement was 6.1 years.

A total of 5,643 (35.7%) of ongoing engagements during 2007–08 had previously worked as non-ongoing employees in the APS. Of these, 4,779 were engaged by the same agency in which they had been employed previously on a non-ongoing basis. This demonstrates that non-ongoing employment continues to be a major entry point into the APS. The median length of service as a non-ongoing employee prior to ongoing engagement was 0.8 years. A total of 6,615 (41.9% of all ongoing engagements) had some prior experience in the APS.

Of the 12,413 non-ongoing employees at June 2008, 1,949 (15.7%) had worked previously in the APS as ongoing employees. In general, the proportion with this prior experience increased with level up to EL 2 where 44.0% of non-ongoing employees had previously worked as ongoing employees. For non-ongoing SES, the proportion was 36.5%. Previous ongoing experience was also high among older non-ongoing employees, with 48.5% of non-ongoing employees in the 55–59 years age group and 44.0% in the 60 years and over age group having previously worked as ongoing employees.

Separations

There were 11,946 separations of ongoing staff during 2007–08, an increase of 13.8% on the 10,498 the previous year. The overall separation rate for the APS during 2007–08 was 8.2%. The number of resignations rose from 7,719 in 2006–07 to 8,628 in 2007–08, a rise of 11.8%. The largest proportional increases during the year were in age retirements (up by 29.4%) and retrenchments (up by 20.0%). Invalidity retirements also rose—by 15.2%.

The number of age retirements (1,888) was the largest since 1988–89 reflecting, in part, the growing proportion of employees eligible for retirement. The number of retrenchments, while higher than last year’s (793, up from 661), was still considerably lower than the average for the past five years. This is likely to indicate agencies’ compliance with the Commission’s redeployment principles for downsizing which encouraged agencies to use redundancies as a last resort.

Figure 2.16 shows how the main separation types have varied over the past 15 years. Age retirements, while relatively low, have increased steadily over the period.

Women accounted for 55.5% of ongoing separations during 2007–08, up from 54.7% the previous year, but lower than their overall ongoing representation in the APS (57.1%). They were slightly over-represented in resignations (57.6%) but under-represented in all other separation types.

The agencies with the largest number of ongoing separations during the year were Centrelink (2,382), Defence (1,392) and ATO (1,133). These three agencies accounted for 41.1% of all ongoing separations, slightly lower than their combined 46.6% of ongoing APS employment.

Separations by age group for 2006–07 and 2007–08 are shown in Table 2.4. The proportion of ongoing employees in each group at June 2008 is included for comparison. The number of separations rose in all age groups. The under 20 years and over 60 years age groups had the largest proportional increases (up by 75.7% and 51.7% respectively). Comparing separations to the age profile of the APS, those aged under 35 years and those aged over 55 years separated at a higher rate than their APS representation.

Table 2.4: Separations of ongoing employees by age group, 2006–07 and 2007–08

	2006–07		2007–08		% change 2006–07 to 2007–08	Ongoing employees at June 2008 %
	No.	%	No.	%
Source: APSED
Under 20	37	0.4	65	0.5	75.7	0.2
20–24	732	7.0	828	6.9	13.1	4.7
25–29	1591	15.2	1867	15.6	17.3	11.4
30–34	1499	14.3	1599	13.4	6.7	13.1
35–39	1263	12.0	1512	12.7	19.7	14.4
40–44	1098	10.5	1109	9.3	1.0	14.4
45–49	937	8.9	1028	8.6	9.7	15.9
50–54	1522	14.5	1659	13.9	9.0	14.0
55–59	1034	9.8	1088	9.1	5.2	8.0
60 & over	785	7.5	1191	10.0	51.7	3.9
Total	10498	100.0	11946	100.0	13.8	100.0

The number of employees resigning at age 54 years has increased steadily over the past decade, with only a slight drop in 2002–03, and is most likely related to the financial incentives for some members of the CSS to resign just before their 55th birthday (the 54/11 effect). The resignation rate for 54-year-olds rose slightly during 2007–08 (23.4%, up from 21.6% the previous year).

Demography of the SES leadership group

The SES constitutes the senior management and leadership cadre of the APS. At June 2008, the SES comprised 1.82% of all ongoing employees—up from 1.76% the previous year. The size of the SES has fluctuated over the past 15 years, but has grown steadily in both number and proportion since 2001, growing from 1,677 to 2,692 today. During 2007–08, the SES grew by 6.2%, compared with the growth for the APS overall of 2.7%.

Band 1 SES employees account for the largest proportion (74.9%) of all ongoing SES. Band 2 employees comprise 20.0% and Band 3s 5.2%. Proportionally, most of the growth during 2007–08 was in the Band 3 cohort, which grew by 16.8%. In actual numbers the biggest growth was in Band 1, which grew by 117 or 6.2%. Excluding those agencies affected by machinery of government changes during the year, the largest net increases in SES employees during 2007–08 were in ATO (22 or 9.3%), Defence (20 or 16.3%) and Finance (14 or 17.1%). Centrelink (24 fewer SES) and DHS (12 fewer) were the only agencies with substantial decreases in the size of their SES.

The representation of SES varies widely between agencies, reflecting the nature of their functions. At June 2008, it ranged from 30.0% in the Office of Parliamentary Counsel (OPC) to 0.3% in Centrelink.

Representation of women in the SES continued to rise this year, up to 37.0% from 36.1% last year. In 1994, women’s SES representation was only 16.9%. Women’s representation increased at all SES levels this year. During 2007–08, growth in the number of women was particularly strong at the SES Band 3 and SES Band 2 levels which rose by 15.6% and 13.1% respectively.

As is the case for the APS overall, women in the SES are concentrated at lower levels in the SES, although this is changing. At June 2008, 77.2% of women in the SES were Band 1s, compared with 73.5% of men. In 1994, the proportions were 82.2% and 71.5% respectively.

Table 2.5 shows that a substantial proportion of the SES are aged 50 years or over, with 38.8% of Band 1s, 56.3% of Band 2s and 67.6% of Band 3s in that age group. The age profile for women in the SES is somewhat younger than that for men—for example, at June 2008, 32.9% of female Band 1s were aged 50 years or over compared with 42.5% of male Band 1s.

At June 2008, 130 SES (or 4.8% of the total cohort) were aged 60 years or over. The number of SES in this age group has increased considerably over time, more than doubling in the past five years. Similarly, those in the 55–59 years age group account for 13.3% of the SES. The number in this age group has also risen steadily over time.

Table 2.5: Ongoing SES employees by age group, sex and level, June 2008

	SES Band 1			SES Band 2			SES Band 3			Total		% female
	M	F	Total	M	F	Total	M	F	Total	No.	%
Source: APSED
25–29	1	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0.1	66.7
30–34	18	25	43	1	0	1	0	0	0	44	1.6	56.8
35–39	139	96	235	12	7	19	2	0	2	256	9.5	40.2
40–44	218	158	376	37	34	71	7	6	13	460	17.1	43.0
45–49	341	235	576	83	61	144	19	11	30	750	27.9	40.9
50–54	325	158	483	107	54	161	34	12	46	690	25.6	32.5
55–59	145	75	220	77	31	108	26	5	31	359	13.3	30.9
60 & over	59	20	79	31	3	34	14	3	17	130	4.8	20.0
Total	1246	769	2015	348	190	538	102	37	139	2692	100.0	37.0

Over the past 10 years, the median age of the SES has remained unchanged at 48 years. The proportion of SES aged 45 years and over, who will be eligible for retirement in the next 10 years, accounts for a substantial proportion of the SES—71.7% at June 2008. This remains a challenge for agencies in terms of succession planning and knowledge management; however, the growing number of SES aged 55 years and over suggests that many in the SES who may benefit financially from early (54/11) retirement are choosing not to do so.

Key chapter findings

This year saw consolidation of a number of long-term trends in APS employment towards a more highly-skilled workforce—continuation of the growth at higher classifications and continuing high levels of recruitment of people with graduate qualifications.

The ‘typical’ new starter in the APS this year is a 32-year-old female, with graduate qualifications, and engaged at the APS 3 level. The ‘typical’ APS employee is a 42-year-old female, with graduate qualifications, working at the APS 6 level.

A positive outcome this year has been the rise in engagement at trainee classifications, against a trend of fewer engagements overall. It indicates that agencies recognise the importance of ‘growing their own’ skills within their organisations.

It is pleasing to see the continuation of the trend towards higher representation for women at higher classifications. Nevertheless, it is important that the APS remains an attractive employment option for both men and women, at all classification levels.

The increased internal labour market in some agencies this year was reflected in the strong growth in promotions—especially within agencies—relative to engagements. The decrease in mobility between the APS and the labour market, and within the APS, may be a short-term response to a tighter budgetary environment as agencies manage the additional efficiency dividend, and will be monitored in future reports.

The past two years’ improvement in employment of young people was not sustained this year. It is important that agencies continue to market themselves as an employer of choice for young people, particularly in a tightening labour market.

The long-term trend towards more employees aged 55 years and over has continued this year. This group has substantial skills and knowledge and they have an important role to play in the APS.

 

1 Every effort is made to ensure the integrity of APSED data, but the 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, some errors in historical data have been corrected. For this reason, caution should be exercised when comparing data presented in this report with that from earlier years. Most significantly, previously published data on employee 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 Australian Public Service Statistical Bulletin 2007–08.

3 In November 2007, 380 employees of the Mersey Campus of the North West Regional Hospital in Tasmania became non-ongoing employees of DoHA.

4 APSED data for DHS includes the Child Support Agency (CSA) and CRS Australia, which are both part of DHS. All three organisations submitted separate responses for the State of the Service agency survey and are considered separate agencies for that purpose. Separate employee survey results for DHS, CSA and CRS Australia are provided where they differ significantly from the APS average on important variables in later chapters.

5 In 1994, 537 ongoing employees were employed in other classifications and are included in the total for that year.

6 Weighting eliminates the effects that the change in the overall size of the APS has on representation. The index is given a value of 100 at June 1994, and rises and falls proportionally with the particular group’s change in the weighted number over time.

7 The method used to calculate the proportion of employees with graduate or tertiary qualifications includes those with qualifications at bachelor’s 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 for their highest educational qualification. Last year’s proportion (52.1%) has been revised down from 53.0% reported last year. This is due to improved quality of data on educational qualifications as more employees have provided data this year. These employees are in agencies that have a lower proportion of employees with graduate qualifications, so the average has dropped slightly.

8 ABS, Australian Labour Market Statistics, Cat. No. 6105.0, July 2008, ABS, Canberra, <http://www.abs.gov.au>

Previous Next: Diversity

About the State of the Service Previous State of the Service reports are available from our State of the Service page

Navigation Letter of transmittal Preface Overview Who we are Enhancing productive capacity

Reinvigorating the traditions of Westminster government Working with stakeholders and moving to more inclusive government Appendices

Resources Glossary Downloads Figures and tables