The Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC) has launched its annual State of the public sector information series, providing insight into the State’s 354,800-strong workforce.
Releasing the data, VPSC said the State of the public sector 2022 provided more detailed industry and demographic data than previous issues, downloadable data sets in Excel with five-year workforce trends, and an updated ‘drivers of wellbeing’ that included information on the drivers of engagement.
It said the workforce data showed numbers as at June 2022, and didn’t include machinery of Government changes that came into effect on 1 January this year.
APSC said of the State’s 354,800 employees, 290,932 worked in a full-time equivalent (FTE) capacity.
“Ongoing employment rose by 1.8 per cent (3,947 FTE) representing 66 per cent of the total rise in public sector employment,” the Commission said.
“Casual employment rose by 18.4 per cent (1,529 FTE) representing 25 per cent of the total rise in public sector employment.
“Fixed-term employment rose by 0.9 per cent (519 FTE) representing the remaining nine per cent.”
VPSC said despite an 0.5 per cent rise in ongoing employment, 2022 saw a net fall of 3.8 per cent (or 2,096) in the number of FTE public servants with the majority attributed to a 13.9 per cent (or 2,164 FTE) fall in fixed-term employment.
It said that in 2020-21, in response to COVID-19, the number of fixed-term employees rose.
“In 2021-22 many COVID-19 programs and initiatives ended resulting in less demand for fixed-term employees,” the Commission said.
Breaking down the sector’s gender pay gap, VPSC said it only reported on the gap in a binary way (men and women) because the number of employees with self-described gender identity was currently too small to analyse.
It said that overall, more women were employed in each pay group than men but a higher percentage of men were in the highest pay group than women.
“The gender pay gap favours men across most occupations and increases with age,” it said.
“The gender pay gap is driven by a higher percentage of men in the highest pay group compared to women.”
VPSC said the mean (average) pay gap of non-casual public sector employees was 19.2 per cent or $23,347, while the median gender pay gap was 10.9 per cent or $11,200.
The Commission’s State of the public sector 2022 can be accessed at this PS News link.
