A NSW Government website
Public Service Commission

NSW public sector at a glance

Chapter 1

Our size and shape

413,567

ongoing, temporary and casual employees

Source: Workforce Profile (2020)

equating to 348,508

full-time equivalent (FTE) employees

Source: Workforce Profile (2020), census period

Source: Workforce Profile (2011–20), census period

Sources: Workforce Profile (2015-20); ABS(2020a)

Structure of the NSW public sector

Structure of the NSW public sector 2020
Structure of the NSW public sector: Text version of diagram

The public sector

  • The government sector - under the Government Sector Employment Act 2013 (NSW)
    • Public Service
      • Departments
      • Executive agencies related to a department
      • Separate Public Service agencies
    • Police Force
    • Transport Service
    • Health Service
    • Teaching Service
    • Other Crown services#
  • State owned corporations*
  • Judicial officers
  • Independent Commission Against Corruption
  • Audit Office
  • Staff of Members of Parliament**
  • Staff of the Parliament
  • Judicial Commission

# Examples of other Crown services include the TAFE Commission, School Administrative and Support Staff, and Sydney Trains.

* Under the GSE Act, State owned corporations are included in the government sector for certain, specified purposes. In this report, they are treated as part of the public sector but not the government sector.

** The PSC does not collect data on these employees.

Under the GSE Act, NSW universities are part of the government sector for certain, specified purposes. The PSC does not collect data on the employees of NSW universities. They are not considered part of the public sector or government sector in this report.

FTE by cluster

The public sector is structured into nine clusters to coordinate related services.

2020 FTE by cluster
FTE by cluster: Text version of diagram
Cluster FTE %
Health 124,086 35.6
Education 110,507 31.7
Stronger Communities 52,342 15.0
Transport 26,454 7.6
Planning, Industry and Environment 16,103 4.6
Customer Service 8,210 2.4
Premier and Cabinet 3,835 1.1
Treasury 2,293 0.7
Regional NSW 4,428 1.3

Source: Workforce Profile (2020), census period

Note: Percentages indicate the contribution of the cluster FTE to total public sector FTE.

FTE for key occupations, 2020 vs 2019

69,330 School Teachers

up from 66,716 in 2019

49,602 Nurses

up from 48,889 in 2019

16,786 Police Officers

up from 16,586 in 2019

46,227 Clerical and Administrative Workers

up from 44,936 in 2019

24,726 School Support Staff

up from 23,091 in 2019

12,847 Medical Practitioners

up from 12,329 in 2019

7,722 Social and Welfare Professionals

up from 7,531 in 2019

5,268 Cleaners and Laundry Workers

up from 5,091 in 2019

4,352 Labourers

up from 4,266 in 2019

4,649 Ambulance Officers

up from 4,218 in 2019

4,016 Prison Officers

up from 3,848 in 2019

3,987 Firefighters

down from 4,015 in 2019

2,765 Bus Drivers

up from 2,723 in 2019

2,024 Food Preparation Assistants

up from 2,023 in 2019

2,007 Train Drivers

up from 1,937 in 2019

Source: Workforce Profile (2019, 2020), census period

Sources: Workforce Profile (2020); ABS (2020b)

Source: Workforce Profile (2011–20), census period

Note: The ‘Other’ category includes employees whose employment category is Contract Executive, Contract Non-Executive, Statutory Appointee, Transport Senior Manager or Other.

Source: Workforce Profile (2011, 2016, 2020), census period, non-casual only.

Note: To provide a whole-of-sector perspective, remuneration has been aligned with the non-executive grades defined in the Crown Employees (Administrative and Clerical Officers – Salaries) Award 2007. The GSE Act provides for the Premier to determine the bands in which senior executives are employed. There are currently four bands.

3,333 Government sector senior executives in 2020

up from 3,256 in 2019

Source: Workforce Profile (2010, 2020) 

Source: Workforce Profile (2014–20)

Headcount and contribution to overall employment by NSW region

Most public sector employees live in Sydney. However, the sector contributes relatively more to overall employment in regional areas of NSW than it does to employment in the city.

Sydney regions

Region Headcount Contribution to employment (%)
Sydney East 135,089 9.0
Sydney West 106,200 10.2
Central Coast 16,656 10.7
Newcastle & Lake Macquarie 23,984 13.9
Illawarra 15,831 10.5
Southern Highlands & Shoalhaven 6,241 10.7

Greater NSW

Region Headcount Contribution to employment (%)
Hunter Valley excl. Newcastle 11,095 8.8
Mid-North Coast 11,120 14.5
New England & North West 11,280 13.1
Far West & Orana 10,596 20.5
Coffs Harbour–Grafton 8,574 16.9
Richmond–Tweed 12,858 11.6
Capital Region 11,152 9.4
Riverina 10,058 12.7
Murray 5,820 10.0
Central West 14,723 13.2

Sources: Workforce Profile (2020); ABS (2020a)

Our people

Median agency tenure, 2020 vs 2019

8.4 years in 2020

8.5 years in 2019

Source: Workforce Profile (2019, 2020), non-casual only

Sources: Workforce Profile (2020), non-casual only; ABS (2016a, 2019a)

Sources: Workforce Profile (2020); ABS (2020c, 2020d)

Sources: Workforce Profile (2020), non-casual only; ABS (2015a, 2016b)

Sources: Workforce Profile (2020) non-casual only; ABS (2016c, 2016d)

Sources: Workforce Profile (2020), non-casual only; ABS (2018a, 2018b)

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2020)

Notes: All diversity statistics are based on self-disclosed information. Throughout this report, ‘Aboriginal peoples’ is used to refer to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The government sector is a subset of the public sector. LGBTIQA+ representation is based on the People Matter survey, which had a response rate of 47.3% in 2020.

Source: Workforce Profile (2011–20), non-casual only

Source: Workforce Profile (2016, 2020), non-casual only

Source: Workforce Profile (2020), non-casual only

Progress on the Premier’s Priority to drive diversity in the government sector

Women in senior leadership

Women in senior leadership
Women in senior leadership: Text version of diagram
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
33.4% 33.8% 36.1% 37.4% 38.7% 40.3% 41.1%
 2,520   2,522   2,795   3,114   3,394   3,696  3,817

Target: 50% by 2025

Aboriginal people in senior leadership

Aboriginal people in senior leadership
Aboriginal people in senior leadership: Text version of diagram
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
57 55 63 71 87 98 105

Target: 114 by 2025

People with disability
 

People with disability
People with disability: Text version of diagram
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
3.6% 3.8% 3.5% 3.0% 2.9% 2.8% 2.7% 2.5% 2.5% 2.4%

Target: 5.6% by 2025

Source: Workforce Profile (2014–20), non-casual only.

Note: Senior leaders are non-casual government sector employees with a salary equal to or higher than $165,750 in 2020, excluding Health roles of a specialist or technical nature with no leadership or managerial responsibilities, and Justice roles with a statutory or institutional character (such as judges, magistrates and barristers).

Our performance

Customer satisfaction for consumers and businesses, 2020 vs 2019

82.0 for consumers

up from 80.6 in 2019

 

80.7 for business in 2020

up from 77.6 in 2019

Source: Customer Satisfaction Measurement Survey (2019, 2020)

Government sector net worth

$238 billion

Source: NSW Treasury Budget Statement 2020–21 (2020)

Government sector employee-related expenses as a percentage of general NSW Government expenditure, 2020 vs 2019

Government sector employee-related expenses as a percentage of general NSW Government expenditure dipped between 2019 and 2020. This was partly due to increased government spending to speed up recovery in NSW in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

45.0% in 2020

46.5% in 2019

Sources: NSW Treasury Budget Statement 2019–20 (2019); NSW Treasury Budget Statement 2020–2021 (2020)

Median salary, 2020 vs 2019

$90,123 in 2020

$87,926 in 2019

a $2,197 or 2.5% increase

Source: Workforce Profile (2019, 2020)

Note: The increase in median salary reflects the pay increase that came into effect on 1 July 2019.

Source: Workforce Profile (2010–20)

Median salary by gender

$92,176

for men

$90,123

for women

Source: Workforce Profile (2020)

Note: Employee salary means the full-time base renumeration for the role, regardless of whether the employee is working part time or full time.

Gender pay gap, 2020 vs 2019

$2,053

Up from $2,002 in 2019

Source: Workforce Profile (2019, 2020)

Note: Employee salary means the full-time base remuneration of the role, regardless of whether the employee is working part time or full time.

People Matter survey response rate, 2020 vs 2019

47.3% in 2020

52.8% in 2019

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2019, 2020)

Employee engagement, 2020 vs 2019

67.2 in 2020

65.7 in 2019

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2019, 2020)

Rates of self-reported experienced and witnessed bullying, 2020 vs 2019

13.9% experienced bullying in 2020

down from 17.9% in 2019

21.7% witnessed bullying in 2020

down from 32.9% in 2019

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2019, 2020)

Employees with a performance plan, and who have informal and scheduled feedback conversations, 2020 vs 2019

Employees with a performance plan

72.3% in 2020

Up from 71.5% in 2019

Employees who have informal feedback conversations

79.2% in 2020

Up from 76.3% in 2019

Employees who have scheduled feedback conversations

63.3% in 2020

Up from 59.5% in 2019

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2019, 2020)

Hours of paid unscheduled absence per FTE, 2016–20

Hours of paid unscheduled absence per FTE, 2016–20
Hours of paid unscheduled absence per FTE, 2016–20: Text version of diagram
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
67.1 64.1 65.2 64.1 63.5

Source: Workforce Profile (2016–20), annual reference period

Employees working flexibly and satisfied with their flexible work arrangements, 2020 vs 2019

Employees working flexibly

78.4%
Up from 62.5% in 2019

Employees satisfied with their flexible work arrangements

65.5%
Up from 58.9% in 2019

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2019, 2020)