Employee numbers

Unless stated otherwise, this workforce data shows you numbers as at June 2022.

This data doesn’t show the machinery of government changes that came into effect on 1 January 2023.

You can use the dropdown menu at the bottom of each chart to filter the data sets.

For some visuals, we give you a breakdown of the data by:

Victorian Public Service (VPS): the 9 departments, Victoria Police (VPS employees) and 46 authorities and offices defined to be Victorian Public Service employers under the Public Administration Act 2004
Public sector industry groups: all other public sector bodies outside the VPS that have a public function, grouped together by industry.
Overall public sector workforce: VPS and public sector industries combined.

The industry groups are:

creative industries, finance, transport and other
government schools
police and emergency services
public healthcare
TAFE and other education
water and land management.

For our data, we define these terms as:

headcount – the number of people employed where each person is counted as one employee regardless of the number of hours they work.
full-time equivalent (FTE) – a standard unit of measurement we use to compare organisations that may have different rates of full-time employment.

In some tables, the individual FTE numbers may not add up to the total due to rounding.

At the end of this page, find Excel datasets for June 2018 to June 2022.

Read more about how we define the public sector or see the full list of public sector agencies.

Key facts

Workforce figures

354,800 people employed or 290,932 FTE at June 2022
10% of the Victorian labour force
1,854 employers
2.1% (5,995 FTE) rise in total employment between June 2021 and June 2022.

Major changes in employment

Changes in employment are primarily due to:

infrastructure projects
social policy initiatives
the COVID-19 response (fall in fixed-term employees and rise in areas with ongoing demand).

Ongoing employment rose by 1.8% (3,947 FTE) representing 66% of the total rise in public sector employment.

Casual employment rose by 18.4% (1,529 FTE) representing 25% of the total rise in public sector employment.

Fixed-term employment rose by 0.9% (519 FTE) representing the remaining 9%.

Rises in employment

4.8% rise (4,675 FTE) in public healthcare
7.0% rise (980 FTE) in creative industries, finance, transport and other
11.2% rise (867 FTE) in Ambulance Victoria, Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority and protective services officers
78.3% rise (1,249 FTE) in school council employees due to schools reopening after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.

Falls in employment

3.8% fall (2,096 FTE) in the Victorian Public Service
6.2% fall (492 FTE) in TAFE and other education
2.5% fall (420 FTE) in sworn police officers.

Number of employees

The chart below shows the number of employees by headcount and full-time equivalent. You can use the filters at the bottom of the chart to see a breakdown by industry and demographic.

Number of employers and employees

Victorian Public Service (16% of public sector employees)

Number of employees in the Victorian Public Service (VPS)
Column one shows the name of the employer type. Column two shows the number of employers in this type. Column three shows the headcount of employees for this year. Column four shows the full-time equivalent number of employees for this year. The final row is a total for this industry.
Responses for	Employers	Headcount	FTE
Departments	9	40,935	38,893
Administrative offices	15	4,055	3,941
Other Victorian Public Service employers including Victoria Police	32	11,349	10,805
Total	56	56,339	53,639

Changes in numbers

There was a net fall of 3.8% or 2,096 FTE

Ongoing employment rose 0.5% or 206 FTE
Fixed-term employment fell 13.9% or 2,164 FTE, representing the majority of the total Victorian Public Service fall.

This included:

10.4% (616 FTE) rise at the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, excluding the impact of Machinery of Government changes
6.5% (318 FTE) rise at the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
5.8% (203 FTE) rise at Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions
17.1% (124 FTE) rise at the Department of Treasury and Finance
22.0% (900 FTE) fall at the Department of Health
4.8% (490 FTE) fall at the Department of Justice and Community Safety
7.0% (239 FTE) fall at the Department of Transport.

Impact of COVID-19

The number of fixed-term employees rose in 2020-21 in response to COVID-19. In 2021-22 many COVID-19 programs and initiatives ended resulting in less demand for fixed-term employees.

Fixed-term employees fell at:

COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria from 3,062 FTE to 427 FTE
the Department of Health from 2,093 FTE to 1,368 FTE
the Department of Justice and Community Safety from 1,267 FTE to 1,181 FTE.

Unless otherwise noted, these changes occurred between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2022. We refer to department and entity names as they were before 30 June 2022.

Changes that occurred as of 1 July 2022 are for information purposes only and aren’t reflected in this workforce data release.

Changes in Victorian Public Service departments

Mental Health Reform Victoria was abolished and joined the Department of Health.

Family Safety Victoria merged with The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.

The Public Sector Reform and Innovation Branch:

left the Department of Premier and Cabinet
joined the Victorian Public Sector Commission from 1 July 2021.

VicRoads was abolished from 1 July 2021:

licencing and registration functions transferred to the private sector
remaining employees transferred to the Department of Transport.

The 7 Waste and Resource Recovery Groups were abolished and joined the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.

New Victorian Public Service employers

New Administrative offices are:

Victorian Skills Authority, as of 1 July 2021
Wage Inspectorate Victoria, as of 1 July 2021
Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation became the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission as of 1 January 2022.

New Victorian Public Service offices are:

Office of the Special Investigator, as of October 2021
Safe Transport Victoria create d by merging the Commercial Passenger Vehicle Commission and the Transport Safety Victoria branch from Department of Transport as of 1 July 2022.

Changes in the Victorian public sector

Western Health merged with Djerriwarrh Health as of 1 July 2021.
Melbourne Water merged Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority as of 1 January 2022.
Ballarat, Edenhope and District, Stawell and Wimmera Health Services merged to create Grampians Health as of October 2021.
Castlemaine Health and Maldon Hospital merged to create Dhelkaya Health as of February 2022.
Victorian Ports Corporation and Victorian Regional Channels Authority merged to create Ports Victoria as of 1 July 2021.
City West Water and Western Region Water merged to create Greater Western Water as of 1 July 2021.
Breakthrough Victoria Pty Ltd, as of March 2022.
Fed Square Pty Ltd was abolished as of 1 July 2021 and joined the Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation. It was established in March 2022.

Public entities by all industry groups (84% of public sector employees)

Public entities include all other public sector bodies outside the Victorian Public Service.

They generally:

have different degrees of autonomy
are governed by a board
have authority to employ their own staff.

We’ve adjusted the total count of employers (1,854) to not double count 10 organisations that have both Victorian Public Service and non-Victorian Public Service employees.

The sector includes publicly owned health services and other agencies.

It excludes Ambulance Victoria which is included in the police and emergency services sector.

Change in numbers

Up 4.8% or 4,675 FTE.

Fixed-term employees account for 44% of the rise compared to an average of 27% in the last 4 years.

The rise included:

1,213 FTE nurses
1,295 FTE administration employees
377 FTE medical and ancillary support employees
645 FTE hotel and allied services employees.

Number of employees in the public health care industry
Column one shows the name of the employer type. Column two shows the number of employers in this type. Column three shows the headcount of employees for this year. Column four shows the full-time equivalent number of employees for this year. The final row is a total for this industry.
Responses for	Employers	Headcount	Full-time equivalent
Health services	76	139,840	101,839
Other health organisations	4	406	373
Total	80	140,246	102,213

The sector includes employees in government schools, primarily employed in the teaching service by the Department of Education and Training.

The teaching service employs:

teachers
principals
teaching support
administrative and ancillary staff.

School councils employ:

casual relief teachers
additional casual administrative and ancillary staff funded by the school to meet local requirements.

Change in numbers

Up 3.2% or 2,228 FTE overall.

Breakdown

Teaching service rises

Up 1.4% or 978 FTE for the teaching service, including:

796 FTE teachers
182 FTE education support staff.

School council rises

Up 78.3% or 1,249 FTE for school council employees including:

casual relief teachers rose 129.8% or 759 FTE
other school council employees rose 490 FTE.

The rise in casual relief teachers reflects a return to pre-pandemic numbers as schools opened with easing COVID-19 restrictions.

Number of employees in government schools
Column one shows the name of the employer type. Column two shows the number of employers in this type. Column three shows the headcount of employees for this year. Column four shows the full-time equivalent number of employees for this year. The final row is a total for this industry.
Responses for	Employers	Headcount	Full-time equivalent
Teaching service	1	81,771	70,013
School councils	1,569	8,008	2,845
Total	1,570	89,779	72,858

The sector includes:

Victoria Police sworn and protective service officers
emergency service agency employees
Ambulance Victoria.

Change in numbers

Up 1.8% or 548 FTE including:

579 FTE rise in Ambulance Victoria
152 FTE rise in protective service officers
136 FTE rise in Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority
420 FTE fall in sworn police officers.

Number of employees in the police and emergency services industry
Column one shows the name of the employer type. Column two shows the number of employers in this type. Column three shows the headcount of employees for this year. Column four shows the full-time equivalent number of employees for this year. The final row is a total for this industry.
Responses for	Employers	Headcount	Full-time equivalent
Victoria Police	1	17,980	17,665
Ambulance Victoria	1	6,979	6,086
Fire Rescue Victoria	1	4,319	4,302
Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority	1	1,188	1,091
Country Fire Authority	1	1,033	945
Victoria State Emergency Service	1	243	219
Total	6	31,742	30,307

The sector includes agencies that deliver services and functions in the sub-sectors listed in the table below.

Change in numbers

Up 7% or 980 FTE including:

219 FTE rise at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Trust, returning to pre-pandemic levels of employment
297 FTE rise in sport and recreation agencies (127 FTE at Zoological Parks and Gardens Board and 80 at Melbourne and Olympic Parks Trust)
200 FTE rise in creative industries agencies (87 FTE at Victorian Arts Centre Trust)
111 FTE rise in finance agencies (98 FTE at Transport Accident Commission).

Number of employees in the Creative industries, finance, transport and other industry
Column one shows the name of the employer type. Column two shows the number of employers in this type. Column three shows the headcount of employees for this year. Column four shows the full-time equivalent number of employees for this year. The final row is a total for this industry.
Responses for	Employers	Headcount	Full-time equivalent
Transport agencies	6	3,941	3,794
Finance/insurance agencies	8	3,727	3,549
Sport and recreation agencies	13	2,850	2,169
Creative industries	9	2,761	1,992
Regulators	14	873	842
Facilities management	9	872	655
Cemetery trusts	5	685	646
Miscellaneous	11	1,493	1,341
Total	75	17,202	14,989

The sector includes:

TAFE Institutes
AMES Australia
Victorian Institute of Teaching
Vocational Education and Training Development Centre.

Change in numbers

Down 6.2% or 492 FTE overall.

Number of employees in the TAFE and other education industry
Column one shows the name of the employer type. Column two shows the number of employers in this type. Column three shows the headcount of employees for this year. Column four shows the full-time equivalent number of employees for this year. The final row is a total for this industry.
Responses for	Employers	Headcount	Full-time equivalent
TAFE institutes	12	8,869	6,986
Other education employers	3	579	511
Total	15	9,448	7,497

The sector includes agencies that deliver services and functions.

Change in numbers

Up 1.6% or 152 FTE including:

56 FTE rise in land management agencies (25 FTE at the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority)
41 FTE rise in planning agencies (36 FTE at Development Victoria)
38 FTE in the alpine resorts, similar to 2019 levels following COVID-19 restrictions.

Number of employees in the Water and land management industry
Column one shows the name of the employer type. Column two shows the number of employers in this type. Column three shows the headcount of employees for this year. Column four shows the full-time equivalent number of employees for this year. The final row is a total for this industry.
Responses for	Employers	Headcount	Full-time equivalent
Water corporations	19	6,790	6,469
Land management and planning	20	2,422	2,263
Alpine resorts	4	419	331
Catchment management authorities	9	413	366
Total	52	10,044	9,428