How to read this page
Unless stated otherwise, this workforce data shows you numbers as at June 2020.
For most visuals, we give you a break down in 3 ways:
- Victorian Public Service (VPS): the 8 departments and 43 authorities and offices defined to be public service employers under the Public Administration Act 2004
- Public entities: all other public sector bodies outside the VPS that have a public function
- Overall public sector workforce: public entities and VPS combined
At the end of this page, find Excel datasets for June 2015 to June 2020.
Read more about how we define the public sector or see the full list of public sector agencies.
Take me to facts and visuals on:
Get data sets on:
- Age profile
- Employee numbers over time
- Employee status: ongoing, fixed-term and casual employment
- Part-time employment
Key facts
Overall public sector workforce employees
- 43 years is the average age
- 77% are employed on an ongoing basis
- 17% are employed fixed-term
- 6% are employed casually
- 43% work part-time
- 68% are women
Victorian Public Service employees
- 43 years is the average age
- 79% are employed on an ongoing basis
- 19% are employed fixed-term
- 2% are employed casually
- 16% work part-time
- 59% are women
Impacts in 2020
COVID-19 impact on schools, events and sport and recreation agencies
The impact of COVID-19 on schools, events and sport and recreation agencies meant:
- fewer casual-relief teachers, teachers’ aides and school service staff were employed while schools taught remotely
- fewer ticketing, usher and other event management staff were employed with venues closed
This contributed to a fall in :
- casual employment across the public sector
- part-time employment across the public sector
- employees in the under 25 age group
Employee age
Distribution of employees by age
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The small number of under-25 employees reflects the high proportion of public sector occupations that require public post-secondary qualifications or professional experience.
Distribution by age for the years 2006, 2016 and 2020 for the overall public sector
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Since June 2006, there has been a shift in the age profile of the public sector workforce.
At June 2006, workforce ages peaked in the 45 to 49 and 50 to 54 ranges.
Since then:
- the proportion of employees aged 25 to 39 has gone up
- the proportion of employees aged 45 to 54 has gone down
By 2016 the workforce age profile was flat, with around 12% of the workforce in each age range between 25 and 60.
Since 2016, growth in employees aged under 40 has seen the age range of 45 to 54 continue to fall.
Employment status
Ongoing, fixed-term and casual employment by industry group
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Casual employment in the whole public sector has fallen from 8.7% at June 2019 to 6.3% at June 2020.
- this is primarily due to COVID-19 impacts on the public sector workforce
There has been a fall in casuals employed in the Victorian Public Service from 4.4% at June 2018 to 1.8% at June 2020.
- this fall is from the transfer of direct care staff to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) providers
TAFEs institutes are moving from casual to ongoing employment.
- the shift in TAFE employment is in-line with the Victorian Government’s policy.
- the policy notes the positive impact of secure employment on employees and on the delivery of quality services to the Victorian community.
- it provides for public sector employers to prefer ongoing employment over casual and fixed-term arrangements wherever possible.
Full-time and part-time employment by industry group
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The fall in casual employment has contributed to part-time employment falling from 44.7% at June 2019 to 43.4% at June 2020.
In recent years, there’s been a fall in Victorian Public Service employees working part-time from 23.4% at June 2015 to 15.7% at June 2020.
Employee gender
Gender of public sector workforce vs Victorian Labour force
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Women employees by industry group, June 2015 to June 2020
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Distribution of women across Victorian Public Service pay classifications, June 2020
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Data sets
For the most up to date data on employee work status, gender and age, see our most recent release: 2021 arrangements, pay grades and occupations