APS Employment database - APSED
What is APSED?
APSED (APS Employment Database) is a database of all current and former APS employees maintained by the Australian Public Service Commission. It contains personal, employment, diversity and education information about all people employed under the Public Service Act 1999 (PS Act). APS agencies supply data on a monthly basis to APSED from HR systems.
Further information about APSED, including how the information is collected and disclosed can be found at APSC Privacy Policy (Part B) | Australian Public Service Commission.
If you have any questions about the APS Employment Database, please contact the APSED project team.
APSED data releases
The data from APSED is made publicly available through the APS Data Release, which provides a current statistical snapshot of the APS workforce as well as trends over the past 20 years. A full set of tables are provided in Excel format and available for download, many of which are broken down by agency.
APSED data is also available via a series of interactive dashboards called the APS Employment Database Interactive Interface (APSEDii).
Both the APS Data Release and APSEDii are updated twice a year for the June and December reporting periods.
APSED data requests
If the data you require cannot be obtained from the APS Data Release or APSEDii, you can send us a data request by filling out our data request form- external site.
APSED data in PLIDA
To facilitate APS workforce research, the APSC discloses the APSED data to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for linkage with the Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA). PLIDA is a secure linked data asset held at ABS combining information on healthcare, education, government payments, income and taxation, employment, and population demographics (including the Census) over time. Authorised researchers can access de-identified APSED data within PLIDA (Microdata: Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA) | Australian Bureau of Statistics). APSED data within PLIDA includes the employment data of approximately 466,000 current and former APS employees from 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2024.
The APSED PLIDA data dictionary is available, if you require an accessible version of the data dictionary please contact apsed@apsc.gov.au.
APSED resources
Instructions to submit APSED snapshot and movement / change data files
We have developed spreadsheets to assist agencies without an automated HR system that can be used to prepare data to be submitted for inclusion in the APS Employment Database. The spreadsheets includes the facilities to produce both the snapshot and movement / change data files in the required format. The spreadsheets also contains instructions on how to produce the snapshot and movement / change files.
APS Employment Database (APSED) specifications
The user manual and specifications are provided in MS Word and PDF formats.
Guidelines for issuing AGS numbers
This guideline provides information on the issuing of AGSNs to APS employees. It distinguishes between when an agency can reuse the same AGSN and when an agency must issue a new one.