APS workforce size and location
Total APS headcount
Under Section 22 of the Public Service Act 1999, the engagement of Australian Public Service employees must be as an ongoing APS employee or for a specified term, for the duration of a specified task, or for duties that are irregular or intermittent.
The APS is a career-based service, and the Employment Principles in Section 10 of the Act recognise that the usual basis for engagement is as an ongoing APS employee.
At 30 June 2025, there were 198,529 employees in the APS:
- 184,442 ongoing employees, up by 8.4% from 170,134 ongoing employees at 30 June 2024
- 14,087 non-ongoing employees, down by 4.3% from 14,724 non-ongoing employees at 30 June 2024.
Of the non-ongoing employees at 30 June 2025, 6,340 (45.0%) were employed for a specific term or the duration of a specified task and 7,747 (55.0%) were employed on a casual basis.
Table 10 shows the APS headcount by employment category from June 2021 to June 2025.
Table 10: Ongoing and non-ongoing APS employees (at 30 June, 2021 to 2025)
| Year | Ongoing APS employees | Non-ongoing APS employees | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headcount | % | Headcount | % | |
| 2025 | 184,442 | 92.9 | 14,087 | 7.1 |
| 2024 | 170,134 | 92.0 | 14,724 | 8.0 |
| 2023 | 151,080 | 88.8 | 19,006 | 11.2 |
| 2022 | 140,861 | 88.5 | 18,318 | 11.5 |
| 2021 | 133,983 | 87.2 | 19,588 | 12.8 |
Source: APSED
Engagements, mobility and separations
Over the year to 30 June 2025, there were:
- 25,917 engagements of ongoing employees to the APS, down by 15.4% from 30,651 engagements in the year to 30 June 2024
- 7,221 ongoing employees moved to another APS agency, down by 15.9% from 8,591 moves in the year to 30 June 2024
- 11,406 separations of ongoing employees from the APS, down by 0.8% from 11,501 separations in the year to 30 June 2024.
Table 11 shows the engagement, mobility and separation rates of ongoing APS employees from June 2021 to June 2025.
Table 11: Engagement, mobility and separation rates of ongoing APS employees (year ending 30 June, 2021 to 2025)
| Year ending | Engagement rate | Mobility rate | Separation rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 2025 | 14.6 | 10.5 | 6.4 |
| June 2024 | 19.1 | 12.5 | 7.2 |
| June 2023 | 15.1 | 13.6 | 8.1 |
| June 2022 | 13.1 | 13.5 | 8.1 |
| June 2021 | 7.7 | 9.5 | 6.4 |
Source: APSED
Note: Mobility rate excludes employees who moved as part of a Machinery of Government change.
The size of the APS relative to the wider Australian labour force, and the population it serves, has changed over time.
Over the period from June 2005 to June 2025:
- the APS workforce (employee headcount) increased by 65,143 (48.8%)
- the Australian labour force (employed persons) increased by 4,731,242 (47.9%)
- the Australian population increased by 7,417,664 (36.8%).
Table 12 shows the APS employee headcount in the context of the Australian labour force and Australian population at five year intervals from June 2005 to June 2025.
Table 12: APS headcount as a proportion of the Australian labour force, and the Australian population, at five year intervals from June 2005 to June 2025
| June 2005 | June 2010 | June 2015 | June 2020 | June 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| APS employees 1 | 133,386 | 163,794 | 152,242 | 150,363 | 198,529 |
| Employed persons 2 | 9,885,630 | 10,992,854 | 11,727,587 | 12,282,418 | 14,616,863 |
| APS employees as % of employed persons | 1.35 | 1.49 | 1.30 | 1.22 | 1.36 |
| Australian population 3 | 20,176,800 | 22,031,800 | 23,816,000 | 25,649,200 | 27,594,464 |
| APS employees as % of Australian population | 0.66 | 0.74 | 0.64 | 0.59 | 0.72 |
Sources:
- APSED.
- Labour Force, Australia, (Australian Bureau of Statistics), Labour Force, Australia , Series: A84423043C ( Labour force status by Sex, Australia - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original ).
- Estimated Residential Population (Australian Bureau of Statistics), National, state and territory population , Series: A2133251W, Population and components of change - national . The June 2025 estimate is a population projection figure: 'High Series' (Australian Bureau of Statistics (2022-base—2071), Population Projections, Australia .
Location
The Australian Public Service workforce spans 586 locations across Australia. Table 13 shows the location of APS employees at 30 June 2025 and the previous year.
At 30 June 2025:
- 70,221 or 35.4% of APS employees were located in the national capital, down 1.5 percentage points from the previous year
- 101,794 or 51.3% were located in other capital cities, up 9,525 or 1.4 percentage points from the previous year
- 24,918 or 12.6% were located in the regions, up 2,112 or 0.3 percentage points from the previous year
- 1,596 or 0.8% were located overseas, remaining steady since last year.
Table 13: Location of APS employees (at 30 June 2024 and 2025)
| Location | 2024 | 2025 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headcount | % | Headcount | % | |
| ACT | 68,257 | 36.9% | 70,221 | 35.4% |
| VIC | 31,922 | 17.3% | 35,679 | 18.0% |
| Melbourne | 27,025 | 14.6% | 30,165 | 15.2% |
| Regional VIC | 4,897 | 2.6% | 5,514 | 2.8% |
| NSW | 30,644 | 16.6% | 33,646 | 16.9% |
| Sydney | 21,586 | 11.7% | 23,822 | 12.0% |
| Regional NSW | 9,058 | 4.9% | 9,824 | 4.9% |
| QLD | 24,136 | 13.1% | 26,448 | 13.3% |
| Brisbane | 17,736 | 9.6% | 19,461 | 9.8% |
| Regional QLD | 6,400 | 3.5% | 6,987 | 3.5% |
| SA | 12,858 | 7.0% | 14,111 | 7.1% |
| Adelaide | 12,456 | 6.7% | 13,648 | 6.9% |
| Regional SA | 402 | 0.2% | 463 | 0.2% |
| WA | 8,951 | 4.8% | 9,839 | 5.0% |
| Perth | 8,228 | 4.5% | 9,125 | 4.6% |
| Regional WA | 723 | 0.4% | 714 | 0.4% |
| TAS | 4,424 | 2.4% | 4,734 | 2.4% |
| Hobart | 3,789 | 2.0% | 4,041 | 2.0% |
| Regional TAS | 635 | 0.3% | 693 | 0.3% |
| NT | 2,140 | 1.2% | 2,255 | 1.1% |
| Darwin | 1,449 | 0.8% | 1,532 | 0.8% |
| Regional NT | 691 | 0.4% | 723 | 0.4% |
| Total Capital Cities | 160,526 | 86.8% | 172,015 | 86.6% |
| Total Regional | 22,806 | 12.3% | 24,918 | 12.6% |
| Overseas | 1526 | 0.8% | 1596 | 0.8% |
| All | 184,858 | 100.0% | 198,529 | 100.0% |
Source: APSED
Note: Totals may not sum due to rounding.
Year-on-year changes within the APS employee headcount in each state and territory over the 3 years to 30 June 2025 are shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: APS employee headcount (% change from previous year, 2023 to 2025)
Source: APSED
See also in this report
Appendix 1 ꟷ APS workforce trends
Find out more
Australian Public Service Commission (2025) APS Employment Data Release, APSC website, accessed 13 August 2025.