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Last updated: 30 November 2006
Chapter 2: Statistical snapshot
Abbreviations
A list of the abbreviations used in this report is available in the Glossary
Age profile
The median age at June 2006 was 42 years (44 years for men, and 40 years for women) and was unchanged from the previous year. The largest age group is the 45–54 age group, followed by the 30–34 age group. Over 10% of employees are now aged 55 or over.
Last year’s decline in employment of young people has reversed slightly this year.The number of employees aged under 25 rose both in actual number (from 4987 to 5973) and in proportional terms (from 4.0% to 4.4%) during 2005–06. This follows two years of decline for this age group. The proportional growth is particularly pleasing considering the strong growth in the size of the overall APS. In the 20–24 age group, the increase during 2005–06 compensates for the decline the previous year. For the under 20 years age group the number of employees, albeit small, is larger than it has been for most of the past decade. During 2005–06, the number rose from 145 to 255, an increase of 75.9%.
There was also substantial growth in mature workers, with the 55 and over age group increasing by 15.4% over the year.This age group now accounts for 10.6% of total ongoing employment, up from 10.1% in 2005. Table 2.2 shows the proportion of employees in ten year age groups, at June 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2006. Over this period, the median age of ongoing employees overall has risen one year every three years. The largest increase has been in the 45–54 age group, which has increased its share by eight percentage points and, for the first time, outnumbers the 35–44 age group. The 55 and over age group has also grown substantially, particularly in the past few years, and has increased its representation by over five percentage points over this period.
| 1994 % | 1997 % | 2000 % | 2003 % | 2006 % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 25 | 8.4 | 5.4 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 4.4 |
| 25-34 | 30.9 | 28.3 | 26.1 | 26.0 | 24.8 |
| 35-44 | 33.0 | 34.0 | 33.5 | 31.4 | 30.0 |
| 45-54 | 22.1 | 26.6 | 29.6 | 29.3 | 30.1 |
| 55 and over | 5.6 | 5.7 | 6.6 | 8.3 | 10.6 |
| median age | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 |
| Source: APSED | |||||
In general, 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 age group—60.1% of ongoing APS employees were aged 35–54 compared with only 45.1% of the labour force. The APS also has a lower proportion aged 55 or over—10.6% compared with 14.2% for the labour force.
Employees in the 45 and over age group, who will be eligible for retirement in the next 10 years, account for 40.8% of ongoing employees. This group’s representation has risen steadily over time, up from 40.4% last year and 32.3% in 1997. For EL and SES employees the proportions are even higher: 48.3% of ELs and 71.1% of SES are aged 45 or over (up from 45.1% and 69.5% in 1997).
The ageing of the cohort at more senior classifications over the past 10 years is particularly evident: for example, at June 2006 17.7% of SES and 10.9% of ELs were aged 55 and over compared with 13.0% of SES and 6.4% of ELs in 1997.
Agencies’ age profiles vary widely.This reflects, in part, the nature of an agency’s functions and classification structures. Those agencies with a relatively high proportion of employees aged over 45 years may face more critical and different workforce planning, knowledge management and leadership capability development issues than those with a younger age profile. Figure 2.10 shows comparative age profiles for ongoing employees in selected agencies at June 2006. The graph includes all agencies with more than 1500 ongoing employees, as well as some others with particularly young or old age profiles: for example, Finance (11.0%), ANAO (10.8%), Treasury (9.2%) and DEWR (8.9%) all have a proportion of their workforce aged under 25 that is at least twice the APS average of 4.4%. Similarly, some agencies have a much older age profile, with a higher proportion of employees aged 45 and over. Agencies in this group include AEC (65.9%), Royal Australian Mint (61.9%), CGC (60.0%), DVA (57.1%), BoM (56.3%), National Library (52.8%) and the Federal Court (52.0%).
Figure 2.10: Ongoing employees in selected agencies by age group, June 2006
Source: APSED
