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Top 3 occupation groups (FTE)

Employment trends

In December 2020 the WA public sector employed 148,532 people, equating to 117,664 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees.

In headcount terms, this reflected a quarterly increase of 124 (+0.1%) since September 2020, and an annual increase of 4,946 (+3.4%) since December 2019. In FTE terms, this reflects a quarterly decrease of 109 (‑0.1%) since September 2020 and an annual increase of 4,521 (+4.0%) since December 2019.

The end of the academic year resulted in decreases in both headcount and FTE in the education sector:

• Department of Education’s headcount and FTE decreased by 330 (-0.6%) and 533 (‑1.3%) respectively over the quarter. Similar to 2019, the school term ended later than usual, resulting in a greater number of Department of Education employees appearing in the data (approximately 1700 FTE more than usual).
• The 5 TAFE colleges collectively decreased by 352 headcount (-7.5%) and 258 FTE
  (-8.4%) with fewer casual staff required outside of TAFE semesters.

Sectorwide, the decreases in the education sector were partially offset by growth at other agencies:

• WA Health had a small quarterly increase of 271 headcount (+0.5%) and 217 FTE (+0.6%) compared to last quarter
• Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions recorded seasonally-related increases of 115 headcount (+5.2%) and 127 FTE (+6.9%) reflecting increased capacity to respond to the summer bushfire season and increases in casual nursery staff
• Following a period of reduced staffing levels due to the COVID-19 pandemic, VenuesWest increased its workforce to 517 headcount (277 FTE), similar to its size in December 2020.

Salaries expenditure

Salaries represent the single largest component of general government expenses (41% for December 2020, or 45% if concurrent superannuation costs are also included).

General government salaries for the first six months of 2020–21 grew by 5% to total $6,669 million (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Salaries growth for the September quarter since 2010–11 (general government)

[ALT text - Salaries growth for the December quarter was 5.0%, compared to a ten-year average of 4.4%.]

Source: Department of Treasury

[i] As of 1 December, staff of the Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) were transitioned to the Department of Justice (except for the Commissioner). For the purposes of this report, the Commissioner is included in the Department of Justice.

[ii] Staffing numbers for the Department of Communities includes the Disability Services Commission and Housing Authority.

[iii] Sworn officers are employed by the Police Force (a non-public sector entity as defined in the Public Sector Management Act 1994), separate from the Police Service.

[iv] Staffing numbers for the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions includes the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority, Rottnest Island Authority, and Zoological Parks Authority.

[v] Staffing numbers for the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, includes the nine regional development commissions.

Information is based on an aggregate of agency supplied data, collected quarterly through the Human Resource Minimum Obligatory Information Requirement (HR MOIR). Data is supplied by agencies according to the guidelines set out in HR MOIR Data Definitions 1.5.1.

The information provided reflects the Commission’s holdings at the date of release. Workforce data is occasionally revised for quality, and corrections applied may result in figures being adjusted over time. This information relates only to Public Sector (Department, SES and non-SES agencies), and excludes sworn officers of the WA Police Force, public universities, local governments, government trading enterprises and other authorities.

All data is accurate as reported to us by contributing agencies.

As some figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals. Salaries expenditure data and information is provided by the Department of Treasury.