Appendix 3—APS workforce trends

This appendix summarises some overall trends in Australian Public Service (APS) employment for 2017–18, and over the past 10 years. The primary source of data is the Australian Public Service Employment Database (APSED). While this appendix briefly summarises APS workforce trends, the June 2018 APS employment data release⁸⁴ provides detailed data.

From this year’s analysis of workforce trends, the typical APS employee is a 43-year-old woman with a bachelor’s degree. She is working in a service delivery role at the APS 6 level in the ACT and has worked for the APS for 11 years.

APS employment trends

As at 30 June 2018, there were 150,594 employees in the APS, comprising:

• 136,175 ongoing employees, down by 0.8 per cent from 137,222 ongoing employees in June 2017
• 14,419 non-ongoing employees, down by 2.9 per cent from 14,740 non-ongoing employees in June 2017.

During 2017–18:

• 9,000 ongoing employees were engaged, down by 1.4 per cent from 9,131 ongoing engagements in 2017)
• 10,042 ongoing employees separated from the APS, up by 2.9 per cent from 9,753 separations of ongoing employees in 2017).

Engagements and separations

Engagement trends have fluctuated over the last 10 years, ranging from 2,363 in 2014–15 to 13,105 in 2008–09. Tables A3.1 and A3.2 cover ongoing APS engagements by classification and by age group. Table A3.3 covers ongoing APS separations by classification.

 

Table A3.1: Ongoing APS engagements by classification, 2009–18

Classification	Employees engaged (number), financial years ending June
	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Trainee	153	196	278	299	283	251	130	581	546	565
Graduate	1266	1225	1494	1398	1237	1152	1037	1434	1477	955
APS 1	423	194	369	160	130	181	36	48	57	54
APS 2	679	429	707	458	272	281	151	486	461	224
APS 3	4006	2341	3048	2019	1297	533	246	2495	1643	2402
APS 4	1663	1322	1767	1768	1222	463	141	2015	1538	1510
APS 5	1294	1258	1546	1600	879	427	157	1316	1058	1074
APS 6	1836	1665	1876	1832	1147	673	241	1315	1301	1200
EL 1	1211	1153	1237	1215	777	468	139	782	683	670
EL 2	465	466	441	437	346	184	56	358	294	265
SES 1	70	46	47	51	44	24	17	156	48	49
SES 2	32	25	16	26	13	12	10	31	19	26
SES 3	7	3	4	9	1	1	2	9	6	6
Total	13105	10323	12830	11272	7648	4650	2363	11026	9131	9000

Source: APSED

 

Table A3.2: Ongoing APS engagements by age group, 2009–18

Age group (years)	Employees engaged (number), financial year ending June
	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Under 20	322	187	231	232	152	108	74	158	169	126
20–24	2862	2229	2780	2368	1689	1095	703	2018	1807	1753
25–29	2736	2398	2891	2481	1717	1034	631	2529	2100	1932
30–34	1871	1489	1874	1624	1148	674	314	1791	1355	1428
35–39	1567	1164	1378	1276	838	470	166	1293	996	1091
40–44	1267	945	1205	1134	732	380	163	1059	870	879
45–49	1096	794	1069	896	552	339	130	892	715	740
50–54	710	566	751	660	419	254	102	684	593	536
55–59	499	418	458	411	278	188	55	423	382	342
60and over	175	133	193	190	123	108	25	179	144	173
Total	13105	10323	12830	11272	7648	4650	2363	11026	9131	9000

Source: APSED

In 2017–18, there were 10,042 ongoing separations (Table A3.3). The number of separations increased slightly from 9,753 in 2016–17. Unlike engagements, separations have remained relatively steady over time.

 

Table A3.3: Ongoing APS separations by classification, 2009–18

Classification	Separated employees (number), financial year ending June
	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Trainee	44	26	36	52	40	44	38	59	61	74
Graduate	83	67	85	76	55	60	38	42	60	58
APS 1	203	137	143	135	123	100	85	59	61	69
APS 2	508	366	375	363	315	328	331	279	241	288
APS 3	1977	1837	1575	1452	1235	1273	1139	991	1190	1162
APS 4	1899	1805	2074	1768	1627	1800	1748	1554	1690	1846
APS 5	1483	1259	1466	1436	1354	1422	1391	1285	1436	1448
APS 6	2083	1818	2167	2162	2052	2272	2302	1911	2119	2265
EL 1	1450	1467	1588	1842	1736	2375	2191	2275	1755	1689
EL 2	726	821	843	951	931	1363	1147	1082	882	900
SES 1	124	129	120	130	142	188	170	177	174	161
SES 2	40	33	44	57	47	78	72	71	64	64
SES 3	17	11	14	15	15	13	13	14	20	18
Total	10637	9776	10530	10439	9672	11316	10665	9799	9753	10042

Source: APSED

Classification structures

At 30 June 2018, almost one-quarter of all APS employees were engaged at the APS 6 level. This continues a trend that began in 2011 after a lengthy period of the APS 4 level being the most common (Table A3.4).

 

Table A3.4: All APS employees by base classification, 2009–18

	All APS employees (number) at 30 June
	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Trainee
Graduate	1322	1294	1595	1528	1413	1318	1196	1570	1665	1198
APS 1	2408	2943	2691	4009	5260	4943	4349	3898	2909	2889
APS 2	7013	6497	6282	5994	5225	5072	4672	5004	4609	4796
APS 3	24845	24115	22477	20907	20466	19201	19398	20767	18460	17610
APS 4	32764	32743	32213	32010	31857	30707	30638	30578	29491	29458
APS 5	21049	21569	22179	22545	22241	21239	20670	20932	21233	20849
APS 6	30956	31955	33150	33904	33678	32406	31246	32670	33124	32981
EL 1	25653	26847	28445	29540	29310	27569	25853	25484	25543	25672
EL 2	12310	12858	13366	13701	13550	12541	11521	11486	11670	11761
SES 1	1968	1986	2032	2095	2054	1918	1821	1963	1977	2017
SES 2	563	574	584	590	596	550	530	542	560	557
SES 3	127	137	144	140	132	121	116	125	119	124
Total	161270	163785	165469	167330	166138	157931	152231	155597	151962	150594

Source: APSED

Age profile

The average age of APS employees has increased steadily in the last decade. This mirrors the trend seen across the general Australian population and its workforce.

The proportion of the APS population aged 50 years of age or over has continued to increase, while the proportion of employees under the age of 30 has declined (Table 6).

 

Table A3.5: All APS employees by age group, 2009–18

Age group (years)	All APS employees (number) at 30 June
	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Under 20	758	718	635	659	727	470	458	579	408	453
20–24	8785	8618	8207	7729	7039	5641	5238	5885	5506	5550
25–29	18840	19245	19320	18888	18049	15833	14390	14317	13647	12980
30–34	20668	20754	21408	21892	21983	21032	20146	20261	19184	18474
35–39	22741	22914	22336	22223	21898	21142	20588	21304	21256	21146
40–44	22024	22090	22558	23090	23137	22438	22086	21979	21282	20870
45–49	24444	24319	23973	23459	22839	21836	21059	21707	21791	21922
50–54	22220	22679	23241	23856	24033	23184	22353	22173	21262	20656
55–59	13423	14125	14758	15 328	15 663	15 578	15 406	16164	16360	16740
60and over	7367	8323	9033	10206	10770	10777	10507	11228	11266	11803
Total	161270	163785	165469	167330	166138	157931	152231	155597	151962	150594

Source: APSED

Gender

The gender profile of the APS has been skewed towards females since 1999 when they became the majority of employees. However, in the last 10 years the proportion of female employees has grown from 57.9 per cent to 59.1 per cent (Table A3.6).

 

Table A3.6: Gender representation in the APS, as at 30 June, 2009–18

	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Men	67905	69079	70030	70798	69867	66223	63232	63711	62307	61629
Women	93354	94693	95426	96518	96253	91688	88978	91863	89633	88914
Gender X	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	23	22	51

Source: APSED

Gender profile by classification

There remains a lower proportion of women at Executive Level (EL) 2 and Senior Executive Services (SES) levels compared to men. However, the numbers at both levels continue to rise (Table A3.7).

 

Table A3.7: Gender representation by classification, 2009–18

Classification		Employees (number) at 30 June
	Gender	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Trainee	Men	156	126	139	187	146	153	113	273	308	366
	Women	136	141	172	180	210	193	108	305	294	313
Graduate	Men	601	616	794	778	657	678	629	791	817	595
	Women	721	678	801	750	754	640	567	778	848	602
APS 1	Men	774	970	989	1332	1833	1728	1453	1220	967	974
	Women	1634	1973	1702	2677	3427	3215	2896	2678	1942	1915
APS 2	Men	2402	2187	2128	2226	1948	1931	1802	1977	1842	1909
	Women	4610	4309	4153	3766	3275	3140	2869	3027	2767	2881
APS 3	Men	8465	8347	7834	7079	6909	6442	6505	7003	6260	6036
	Women	16379	15767	14642	13827	13555	12755	12889	13760	12195	11561
APS 4	Men	10003	9995	9717	9782	9922	9555	9578	9391	9060	9173
	Women	22757	22743	22491	22223	21930	21145	21052	21180	20423	20268
APS 5	Men	8858	8987	9195	9254	9060	8605	8321	8343	8385	8174
	Women	12191	12581	12983	13290	13180	12633	12348	12587	12848	12673
APS 6	Men	14017	14448	14886	15261	15043	14463	13827	14270	14246	14094
	Women	16936	17504	18261	18640	18632	17940	17416	18396	18874	18883
EL 1	Men	13322	13833	14597	15023	14735	13857	12905	12519	12474	12438
	Women	12329	13012	13846	14515	14572	13708	12944	12961	13065	13229
EL 2	Men	7618	7857	8032	8154	7929	7258	6636	6418	6437	6380
	Women	4692	5001	5334	5547	5621	5283	4885	5067	5232	5381
SES 1	Men	1221	1231	1238	1252	1212	1118	1053	1088	1099	1075
	Women	747	755	794	843	842	800	768	875	878	942
SES 2	Men	371	379	378	370	380	351	336	338	343	343
	Women	192	195	206	220	216	199	194	204	217	214
SES 3	Men	97	103	103	100	93	84	74	80	69	72
	Women	30	34	41	40	39	37	42	45	50	52

Source: APSED Note: Data for employees identifying as gender X was collected, however proportions are too small to be presented.