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APS at a glance - All staff

At 30 June 2009 there were 162,009 staff in the APS. This total comprised:

• 150,155 ongoing staff (up by 1.6% from 147,729 in June 2008)
• 11,854 non-ongoing staff (down by 1.7% from 12,060 in June 2008)

During 2008–09:

• 12,963 ongoing employees were engaged (down by 19.3% from 16,067 in 2007–08)
• 10,460 ongoing employees separated from the APS (down by 14.1% from 12,176 in 2007–08)
• 437 employees moved into coverage of the PS Act, of these 81.0% (354) were ongoing staff

Size of the Australian Public Service

At June 2009 there were 162,009 staff in the Australian Public Service employed under the PS Act. This represented an increase of 1.4% from the June 2008 number of 159,789. Figure 1 shows ongoing and non-ongoing employee numbers by sex for June 2008 and June 2009.

During 2008–09, there was an increase in the number of ongoing employees, from 147,729 at June 2008 to 150,155 at June 2009 (an increase of 2,426 or 1.6%). The largest increases in ongoing employee numbers were in Centrelink (797 or 3.1%), FaHCSIA (324 or 11.6%) and DEWHA (283 or 12.1%). These agencies accounted for over half of the increase in ongoing employment. The largest reductions in ongoing employee numbers were in the ATO (down by 364 or 1.6%) and Defence (down by 344 or 1.7%).

Non-ongoing employment fell by 1.7%, from 12,060 at June 2008 to 11,854 at June 2009. The agencies with the largest reduction in non-ongoing employment were ATO (down by 457) and Immigration (246). The agency with the largest increase in non-ongoing employment was Centrelink (an increase of 1,009).

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 2009. The ranking of the three largest agencies has remained unchanged for the last nine years, although both the ATO and Defence reduced in size this year. Together, these three agencies account for 44.8% of the total APS staff.

Table A: 10 Largest agencies (ongoing and non-ongoing employees), June 2009

Agency	No. of employees at June 2009	% of total APS
Source: Table 2
Centrelink	27,973	17.3
Australian Taxation Office	23,505	14.5
Defence	21,152	13.1
Immigration	7,052	4.4
Human Services	6,620	4.1
Australian Customs and Border Protection Services	6,031	3.7
DEEWR	5,996	3.7
Medicare Australia	5,844	3.6
Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry	5,168	3.2
Health & Ageing	4,912	3.0
Total	114,253	70.5

Ongoing employees

Composition

At June 2009, ongoing employees accounted for 92.7% of the APS, a slight increase in their representation from the previous year.

The number of ongoing employees working part-time rose by 7.9% during the year, up from 18,001 (12.2% of all ongoing employees) at June 2008 to 19,430 (12.9%) at June 2009. Women are much more likely to work part-time with 19.7% working part-time at June 2009 compared with 3.7% of men. Human Services, Centrelink and Medicare accounted for more than 40 per cent of ongoing part-time employees at June 2009.

Classification

At June 1995, the APS 1–2 and APS 5–6 classification groups accounted for 23.3% and 27.1% of ongoing staff respectively. The proportion in the APS 3–4 classification group was slightly higher at 31.6%. By June 2009, the APS 1–2 level had fallen to just 3.8% of all ongoing employees. Over the same period, the proportion at the APS 3–4 and APS 5–6 levels rose, with each group now accounting for around one-third of all ongoing employees.

Representation of Executive Level (EL) employees has risen from 15.5% to 26.1% over the same period. The size of the Senior Executive Service (SES) has fluctuated between 1.4% and 1.9% and is currently 1.9%.

The number of ongoing trainees continued to fall, from 396 at June 2008 to 246 at June 2009 (down by 37.9%). Trainees are now at their lowest number and proportion since 1999. Graduate trainees fell by 8.5% from 1,217 at June 2008 to 1,114 at June 2009. It should be noted that the number of graduate trainees does not represent the number of graduates recruited at all levels. During 2008–09, 68.1% of ongoing employees engaged had graduate qualifications.[1]

The APS 6 group remains the largest size category of employment in the APS, followed by APS 4 and EL 1.

Figure 2 shows the change in the proportion of employees in selected classifications over the last 15 years.

Senior Executive Service

At June 2009, there were 2,845 ongoing SES employees in the APS, up from 2,698 last year. The proportional increase in the size of the SES during 2008–09 (5.4%) was considerably larger than the growth in the APS overall (1.6%).

The composition of the SES has generally remained stable over the last 15 years. At June 2009, SES Band 1 employees comprised just under three quarters of the SES at 74.7%, with SES Band 2 at 20.2% and SES Band 3 at 5.1%.

The major change in the SES over the last 15 years has been the steady increase in the representation of women, from 18.1% at June 1995 to 37.0% at June 2009. Women are still concentrated at lower levels in the SES, with representation at SES Band 2 level falling slightly from 34.9% to 34.5% and representation at SES Band 3 falling from 27.4% to 25.7%.

Age

The median age of ongoing APS employees at June 2009 was 42 years.

The number of ongoing employees in the under 25 age group fell from 7,235 to 6,903 during 2008–09. Over the 15 years to June 2009 this group’s representation has fallen from 7.5% to 4.6% 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 23.4% of all employees. By June 2009, this had risen to 29.9%. Similarly, the 55 and over age group has increased from 5.4% to 12.7% over the past 15 years.

Male and female employment

Over the past 15 years, women’s representation in the APS has increased from 47.2% to 57.5% of ongoing employees. In general, women are still employed at lower classification levels than men, but the gap is closing. Fifteen years ago, 66.6% of women were in the APS 1–4 group, but by June 2009 this had decreased to 43.1%. For men, 44.4% were in the APS 1–4 group 15 years ago, compared with 27.8% at June 2009. Changes in women’s representation by classification over the past 15 years are shown in Figure 4.

Location

Over one-third of ongoing APS employees are located in the ACT. The proportion of ongoing staff in the ACT has increased from 36.6% at June 2008 to 37.4% at June 2009, continuing the steady rise that has been occurring for several years.

Table B shows the distribution of ongoing employees by location at June 2009.

Table B: Ongoing employees by location, June 2009

State/Territory	No. of staff	% of ongoing staff
Source: Table 21
Australian Capital Territory	56,110	37.4
New South Wales	28,607	19.1
Victoria	24,361	16.2
Queensland	16,985	11.3
South Australia	9,062	6.0
Western Australia	7,681	5.1
Tasmania	3,702	2.5
Northern Territory	2,396	1.6
Overseas	1,251	0.8
Total	150,155	100.0

Engagements

Over the 2008–09 financial year, there were 12,963 engagements of ongoing employees. The agencies with the largest number of engagements were Centrelink (2,711), Defence (1,208), Human Services (707), Immigration (648) and ATO (617).

Women comprised 59.8% of ongoing engagements during the financial year 2008–09. Just over half of engagements for women (50.2%) were at the APS 3–4 level. For men, the proportion was 36.0%.

Fifteen years ago, 41.6% of all ongoing engagements were at the APS 1–2 level; by 2008–09 this had dropped to 8.5%. In contrast, the APS 3–4 group increased from 18.1% to 44.5% of all ongoing engagements over the same period. This classification group now accounts for most ‘base-level’ recruitment. Figure 5 shows the proportion of engagements by classification over the last 15 years.

Separations

There were 10,460 separations of ongoing employees in 2008–09. This was a decrease of 1,716 (or 14.1%) over the previous year (12,176). Resignations were the most common form of separation in both years. As a proportion of all separations, resignations have increased from 28.3% in 1994–95 to 62.0% in 2008–09. There has, however, been considerable variation over the 15 years. In general, resignations have been lower in those years where the proportion of retrenchments has been higher. The number of retrenchments rose from 811 in 2007–08 to 1,700 in 2008–09, a rise of 109.6%. These trends are shown in Figure 6.

Women accounted for 56.1% of separations during 2008–09, slightly lower than their representation in the APS workforce. Of people resigning, over one in ten (13.8%) had been working in the APS for less than a year.

Over one quarter (28.9%) of men who took an age retirement had been employed in the APS for over 30 years in comparison with 9.3% of women.

The overall separation rate is calculated as the total number of separations of ongoing employees during the financial year divided by the average number of ongoing employees at 30 June 2008 and 30 June 2009. During 2008–09 the separation rate was 7.0%. 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 13 should be used at agency level when assessing agency ‘turnover’.

Educational qualifications²

Of those ongoing employees who have supplied information about their educational qualifications, 53.8% have a bachelor degree or higher. Men are more likely than women to have graduate qualifications—57.4% compared with 50.9% for women. Indigenous employees (27.5%) are much less likely to have graduate qualifications and NESB1 employees (75.8%) are much more likely to have such qualifications than the APS average. Those with a disability are somewhat less likely to have graduate qualifications (43.2%) compared with the APS overall.

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