Appendix 3: Workforce trends

Contents

This appendix summarises APS-overall workforce trends for 2021–22 and over the past 10 years. The primary source of data is the APSED. For more detailed breakdowns, including by APS agency, refer to the June 2022 APS employment data release.

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Access the June 2022 APS employment data release

The APS is a diverse workforce spanning 606 locations across Australia and overseas in 97 agencies. As at 30 June 2022, the APS had increased to 159,469 employees, undertaking a wide variety of work across 248 job roles in fields such as service delivery, research, regulation and policy development. This growth reflects an additional 5,783 employees in the recent financial year, an increase of 3.8% in the size of the APS overall.

APS Employee Trends

As at 30 June 2022, there were 159,469 employees in the APS, comprising:

  • 140,759 ongoing employees, up by 5.1% from 133,939 ongoing employees in June 2021
  • 18,710 non-ongoing employees, down by 5.3% from 19,747 non-ongoing employees in June 2021.

Table A3.1 shows how this distribution has changed over time. Non-ongoing employees in the APS are employed for a specified term, or for the duration of a specified task, or to perform duties that are irregular or intermittent (casual). Of all non-ongoing employees at 30 June 2022:

  • 9,356 (50%) were employed for a specified term or the duration of a specified task
  • 9,354 (50%) were employed on a casual basis.

The decrease in non-ongoing employees was due to a drop in specified term or task non- ongoing employees (- 2,075) during 2021–22. Casual employees increased by 1,038 during the same period.

During 2021–22:

  • 17,921 ongoing employees were engaged, up by 75.9% from 10,188 ongoing engagements in 2020–21
  • 11,082 ongoing employees separated from the APS, up by 30.3% from 8,503 separations of ongoing employees in 2020–21.

Table A3.2 and A3.3 show the agencies with the largest increases and reductions in employees.

Table A3.1: Ongoing and non-ongoing APS employees (2017 to 2022):
 

Year Ongoing APS employees Non-ongoing APS employees
June 2022 140,759 (88.3%) 18,710 (11.7%)
June 2021 133,939 (87.2%) 19,747 (12.8%)
June 2020 132,229 (87.9%) 18,149 (12.1%)
June 2019 132,227 (90.1%) 14,530 (9.9%)
June 2018 136,203 (90.6%) 14,055 (9.4%)
June 2017 137,283 (90.3%) 14,665 (9.7%)

 

Table A3.2: Agencies with the largest increases of employees (2021–22)
Figures represent the net change and the percentage change from 30 June 2021 to 30 June 2022.

Agency Ongoing Non-ongoing Total
Australian Electoral Commission +65 (9.6%) +1,702 (69.3%) +1,767 (123.3%)
Health +665 (15.0%) +266 (46.2%) +931 (19.6%)
Agriculture, Water and the Environment +577 (9.2%) +191 (20.3%) +768 (10.9%)
National Disability Insurance Agency +1,042 (30.0%) -290 (52.9%) +752 (17.4%)
Foreign Affairs and Trade +594 (15.6%) +36 (25.2%) +630 (16.1%)
Veterans’ Affairs +233 (14.5%) +341 (68.1%) +574 (32.4%)

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Table A3.3: Agencies with the largest reductions of employees (2021–22)

Figures represent the net change and the percentage change from 30 June 2021 to 30 June 2022

Agency Ongoing Non-ongoing Total
ServicesAustralia +616 (2.3%) -2,350 (49.4%) -1,734 (5.1%)
Australian Taxation Office +240 (1.3%) -1,152 (57.9%) -912 (4.3%)
Australian Bureau of Statistics +247 (10.5%) -420 (73.9%) -173 (5.2%)
Defence -198 (1.2%) +47 (16.9%) -151 (0.9%)

Figures represent the net change and the percentage change from 30 June 2021 to 30 June 2022.

Location

At 30 June 2022, the largest number of APS employees were located in the Australian Capital Territory (60,997), which represented 38.3% of the APS. This is a decrease from 38.7% in 2013. Collectively, NSW, Victoria and Queensland made up 73,339 (46%) of the APS workforce. The proportion of APS employees based in regional Australia dropped from 13.8% in 2021 to 13.3% in 2022. Table A3.4 shows these changes.

Table A3.4: Location of APS employees at 30 June (2013 and 2022)

Location 2013 2022
Headcount % Headcount %
ACT 64,322 38.7 60,997 38.3
NSW 31,517 19 26,963 16.9
VIC 26,651 16 26,758 16.8
QLD 18,009 10.8 19,638 12.3
SA 9,818 5.9 10,423 6.5
WA 7,631 4.6 7,589 4.8
TAS 4,240 2.6 3,913 2.5
NT 2,611 1.6 1,810 1.1
Overseas 1,348 0.8 1,378 0.9
All 166,147 100 159,469 100

Job families

The APS Job Family Model groups functionally similar jobs that perform related tasks and require similar or related skills and knowledge. The model classifies jobs at 3 levels – family, function and role. The 19 job families are broken into clusters of job functions and further into job roles.

As at 30 June 2022, 41 agencies supplied job family data relating to 135,111 (84.7%) of APS employees.

Location

Figure A3.5 presents the dispersion of APS Job Families across Canberra, other cities and regions across Australia.

Figure A3.5: APS Job Families, by location (30 June 2022)
 

A table showing the breakdown of employee locations in the APS by job family at 30 June 2022. The Policy and Senior Executive job families had the highest rates in the ACT at over 70%. The Service Delivery family had 30% of staff located in regional areas, substantially more than any other job family, and only 6.9% located in the ACT. The Compliance and Regulation job family has 77.3% of staff located in jurisdictional capitals excluding Canberra.

Engagements and separations

Engagement numbers of ongoing employees have fl    ed over the last 10 years, ranging from 7,651 in 2012–13, down to 2,367 in 2014–15 during the APS-wide recruitment freeze, and then up to 17,921 in 2021–22.

Tables A3.6 and A3.7 cover ongoing APS engagements by classification and by age group respectively.

Table A3.6: Ongoing APS engagements by classification (2012–13 to 2021–22)
 

Class '12–'13 '13–'14 '14–'15 '15–'16 '16–'17 '17–'18 '18–'19 '19–'20 '20–'21 '21–'22
Trainee 283 251 130 584 558 641 442 503 569 828
Graduate 1,237 1,152 1,037 1,437 1,484 1,247 1,205 1,392 1,378 1,563
APS 1 130 181 36 48 57 44 46 62 82 140
APS 2 271 282 151 485 456 172 165 195 388 451
APS 3 1,298 533 247 2,493 1,632 2,086 773 1,561 1,263 2,889
APS 4 1,222 462 142 2,023 1,546 1,521 1,567 1,662 1,583 3,672
APS 5 880 427 157 1316 1,066 1,071 1,526 1,382 1,652 2,898
APS 6 1,148 673 241 1,321 1,305 1,213 1,633 1,793 1,797 3,106
EL 1 778 467 140 787 686 673 794 847 1,002 1,726
EL 2 346 185 58 360 292 268 323 342 387 561
SES 1 44 24 17 158 47 47 57 46 66 65
SES 2 13 12 9 31 17 26 15 25 19 19
SES 3 1 1 2 9 6 5 10 2 2 3
Total 7,651 4,650 2,367 11,052 9,152 9,014 8,556 9,812 10,188 17,921

Table A3.7: Ongoing APS engagements by age group (2012–13 to 2021–22)

Age group '12–'13 '13–'14 '14–'15 '15–'16 '16–'17 '17–'18 '18–'19 '19–'20 '20–'21 '21–'22
Under 20 152 108 74 157 169 126 149 143 160 306
20–24 1,691 1,095 703 2,022 1,813 1,751 1,477 1,784 1,961 3,035
25–29 1,716 1,034 632 2,533 2,101 1,938 1,836 2,127 2,140 3,564
30–34 1,148 674 317 1,795 1,362 1,429 1,287 1,465 1,548 2,670
35–39 838 470 166 1,299 1,001 1,096 1,042 1,238 1,279 2,372
40–44 732 380 163 1,062 874 878 861 950 964 1,890
45–49 553 340 130 894 717 746 772 854 857 1,541
50–54 420 254 102 685 592 534 560 636 638 1,297
55–59 278 187 55 425 379 342 373 428 424 802
60 and over 123 108 25 180 144 174 199 187 217 444
Total 7,651 4,650 2,367 11,052 9,152 9,014 8,556 9,812 10,188 17,921

Table A3.8 covers ongoing APS separations by classification. In 2021–22, there were 11,082 separations of ongoing APS employees. The number of separations increased from 8,503 in 2020–21. Unlike engagements, separations have remained relatively steady over time.

Table A3.8: Ongoing APS separations by classification (2012–13 to 2021–22)

Class '12–'13 '13–'14 '14–'15 '15–'16 '16–'17 '17–'18 '18–'19 '19–'20 '20–'21 '21–'22
Trainee 40 44 38 59 61 75 120 80 70 92
Grad 55 60 38 42 60 59 91 114 59 96
APS 1 123 100 85 59 61 69 51 49 24 25
APS 2 315 328 331 279 241 306 246 249 213 239
APS 3 1,235 1,273 1,139 991 1,190 1,219 1,048 911 821 1,071
APS 4 1,627 1,800 1,748 1,554 1,689 1,887 2,225 1,573 1,510 1,935
APS 5 1,354 1,422 1,391 1,285 1,434 1,478 1,785 1,293 1,234 1,746
APS 6 2,052 2,272 2,302 1,911 2,122 2,319 2,886 2,248 2,058 2,626
EL 1 1,736 2,375 2,191 2,274 1,757 1,734 2,225 1,851 1,488 2,070
EL 2 931 1,363 1,148 1,082 882 920 1,175 1,249 777 942
SES 1 142 189 170 177 174 160 178 148 176 171
SES 2 47 78 72 70 65 65 64 71 59 49
SES 3 15 13 13 14 20 18 15 13 14 20
Total 9,672 11,317 10,666 9,797 9,756 10,309 12,109 9,849 8,503 11,082

Classification structures

As at 30 June 2022, the most common classification was APS 6 level. This continued the trend of the last decade, during which APS 6 has consistently been the most common classification (Table A3.9).

Table A3.9: Number of APS employees by base classification at 30 June (2013 to 2022)

Class 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Trainee 356 346 221 581 618 764 564 612 634 890
Graduate 1,413 1,318 1,196 1,571 1,686 1,487 1,452 1,603 1,570 1,775
APS 1 5,262 4,945 4,351 3,901 2,903 2,677 2,842 2,203 1,604 3,041
APS 2 5,224 5,071 4,671 5,000 4,602 4,698 4,411 6,239 4,711 4,271
APS 3 20,468 19,203 19,401 20,766 18,422 17,211 15,321 15,734 16,822 14,851
APS 4 31,857 30,708 30,637 30,578 29,491 29,482 28,095 27,318 28,306 27,576
APS 5 22,243 21,240 20,670 20,931 21,237 20,853 20,590 21,143 21,689 22,351
APS 6 33,680 32,407 31,248 326,69 33,122 32,972 32,967 33,973 34,319 36,117
EL 1 29,307 27,567 25,852 25,484 25,543 25,656 26,017 26,944 28,498 31,602
EL 2 13,552 12,544 11,524 11,491 11,667 11,755 11,729 11,814 12,675 13,951
SES 1 2,055 1,918 1,821 1,965 1,977 2,024 2,048 2,064 2,095 2,242
SES 2 598 552 531 544 559 554 583 600 629 662
SES 3 132 121 116 126 121 125 138 131 134 140
Total 166,147 157,940 152,239 155,607 151,948 150,258 146,757 150,378 153,686 159,469

Age profile

As at 30 June 2022, the average age of APS employees remained steady at 43.4, with most APS employees (55.1%) still aged between 35 and 54 (Table A3.10).

Table A3.10: Number of APS employees by age group at 30 June (2013 to 2022)

Age group (years) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Under 20 726 470 458 578 407 456 430 572 582 675
20–24 7,042 5,643 5,238 5,885 5,508 5,526 5,313 6,298 6,747 7,422
25–29 18,049 15,835 14,394 14,322 13,650 12,947 12,585 13,132 13,702 14,730
30–34 21,985 21,029 20,148 20,260 19,178 18,432 17,214 17,051 17,116 17,675
35–39 21,897 211,43 20,587 21,308 21,258 21,127 20,679 20,989 21,379 21,515
40–44 23,137 22,440 22,087 21,981 21,281 20,851 20,752 20,964 21,578 22,467
45–49 22,838 21,834 21,056 21,704 21,789 21,907 21,708 22,011 21,896 22,065
50–54 24,035 23,184 22,352 22,172 21,260 20,630 19,973 20,146 20,814 21,897
55–59 15,666 15,582 15,409 16,169 16,360 16,698 16,403 16,757 16,821 17,004
60 and over 107,72 10,780 10,510 11,228 11,257 11,684 11,700 12,458 13,051 14,019
Total 166,147 157,940 152,239 155,607 151,948 150,258 146,757 150,378 153,686 159,469

Gender

The proportion of women has continued to grow over the past decade. During this period, the proportion of women has grown from 57.9% to 60.4% (Table A3.11).

Table A3.11: Gender representation in the APS at 30 June (2013 to 2022)

Gender 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Men 69,858 66,213 63,221 63,699 62,287 61,491 59,161 60,117 61,052 62,822
Women 96,252 91,688 88,977 91,862 89,613 88,704 87,516 90,169 92,458 96,341
X . . . . 48 63 80 92 176 306
Total 166,147 157,940 152,239 155,607 151,948 150,258 146,757 150,378 153,686 159,469

The proportion of women is higher than that of men at all classifications up to and including SES Band 1. While women now comprise the majority (52%) of SES overall, there remains a lower proportion of women at SES Band 2 and 3 levels compared to men. However, the numbers at these levels continue to rise (Table A3.12).

Table A3.12: Gender representation by classification at 30 June (2013 to 2022)

Class Gender 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Trainee Men 146 152 112 275 321 405 251 293 294 429
Women 210 194 109 306 297 357 312 318 334 452
Grad Men 658 678 628 792 831 755 743 815 779 949
Women 754 639 568 778 852 730 703 783 785 815
APS 1 Men 1,832 1,727 1,452 1,220 969 898 908 716 534 901
Women 3,429 3,217 2,898 2,679 1,934 1,778 1,933 1,482 1,062 2,129
APS 2 Men 1,949 1,930 1,802 1,974 1,833 1,864 1,745 2,410 1,789 1,747
Women 3,275 3,141 2,869 3,026 2,768 2,831 2,659 3,823 2,916 2,507
APS 3 Men 6,908 6,444 6,507 7,001 6,238 5,826 5,252 5,313 5,786 5,239
Women 13,554 12,753 12,889 13,758 12,180 11,375 10,053 10,413 10,992 9,537
APS 4 Men 9,920 9,554 9,576 9,388 9,057 9,182 8,728 8,508 8,874 8,534
Women 21,930 21,145 21,050 21,180 20,421 20,282 19,350 18,786 19,395 18,970
APS 5 Men 9,056 8,600 8,317 8,340 8,381 8,174 7,910 7,977 8,152 8,187
Women 13,179 12,634 12,346 12,586 12,852 12,674 12,672 13,154 13,514 14,127
APS 6 Men 15,040 14,461 13,824 14,263 14,238 14,083 13,702 14,103 14,173 14,641
Women 18,635 17,940 17,417 18,396 18,873 18,878 19,253 19,853 20,118 21,431
EL 1 Men 14,733 13,853 12,901 12,514 12,468 12,428 12,288 12,486 12,916 13,922
Women 14,569 13,708 12,945 12,964 13,069 13,222 13,721 14,448 15,570 17,660
EL 2 Men 7,929 7,259 6,637 6,421 6,437 6,380 6,148 6,039 6,326 6,816
Women 5,619 5,281 4,883 5,065 5,224 5,370 5,578 57,72 6,345 7,130
SES 1 Men 1,213 1,119 1,054 1,091 1,102 1,082 1,055 1,036 ,1006 1,032
Women 842 799 767 874 875 942 992 1,027 1,087 1,207
SES 2 Men 381 352 337 339 341 341 354 349 348 351
Women 217 200 194 205 218 213 229 251 281 310
SES 3 Men 93 84 74 81 71 73 77 72 75 74
Women 39 37 42 45 50 52 61 59 59 66

Table A3.13 presents the proportion of APS employees identifying in each diversity group within their agency’s HR system.

Table A3.13: Proportion of APS employees by diversity group at 30 June (2013 to 2022)

Diversity group 2013 (%) 2014 (%) 2015 (%) 2016 (%) 2017 (%) 2018 (%) 2019 (%) 2020 (%) 2021 (%) 2022 (%)
Women 57.9 58.1 58.4 59 59 59 59.6 60 60.2 60.4
Indigenous 2.7 2.9 3 3.3 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.5
People with disability 3.4 3.6 3.7 3.9 4 4.1 4 4.4 4.6 4.7
Non-English speaking background 14.9 14.9 14.9 15 15.1 15.1 14.9 15.1 14.9 14.6
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