Public sector employees in Australia

Australia: Public sector employees was 3,649 in 2021. ▲ Rising

Latest (2021)
3,649
Change on year
up 2.7%
World rank
13th
of 64 countries
All-time high
3,661
in 2019
All-time low
2,089
in 2001
Years of data
21
2001–2021

Public sector employees in Australia, 2001–2021

01.0k2.0k3.0k4.0k2001201120212001: 2.1k2002: 2.2k2003: 2.3k2004: 2.4k2005: 2.5k2006: 2.6k2007: 2.6k2008: 2.8k2009: 3.0k2010: 3.2k2011: 2.9k2012: 3.1k2013: 3.1k2014: 3.1k2015: 3.2k2016: 3.3k2017: 3.3k2018: 3.4k2019: 3.7k2020: 3.6k2021: 3.6k

Source: International Labour Organization.

Analysis

Australia recorded 3,649 for public sector employees in 2021.

That represents a change of up 2.7% on the previous year and up 25.0% over ten years.

Over the whole period, public sector employees in Australia peaked at 3,661 in 2019 and was at its lowest, 2,089, in 2001.

That places Australia 13th out of 64 countries with data for 2021, putting it in the top quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 21 years of available data.

Public sector employees in Australia, year by year

Annual values for Public sector employees in Australia, 2001 to 2021.
Year Value Change
2001 2,089
2002 2,228 +6.7%
2003 2,345 +5.2%
2004 2,367 +1.0%
2005 2,482 +4.8%
2006 2,605 +5.0%
2007 2,579 -1.0%
2008 2,820 +9.4%
2009 2,968 +5.2%
2010 3,155 +6.3%
2011 2,920 -7.4%
2012 3,069 +5.1%
2013 3,087 +0.6%
2014 3,131 +1.4%
2015 3,228 +3.1%
2016 3,304 +2.4%
2017 3,336 +1.0%
2018 3,444 +3.3%
2019 3,661 +6.3%
2020 3,552 -3.0%
2021 3,649 +2.7%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 2,498 2,089 2,968 9
2010s 3,234 2,920 3,661 10
2020s 3,601 3,552 3,649 2

Countries ranked near Australia

  1. 10 Vietnam 4,305 compare
  2. 11 Philippines 4,289 compare
  3. 12 Poland 4,198 compare
  4. 14 Spain 3,549 compare
  5. 15 South Africa 2,776 compare
  6. 16 Ghana 2,686 compare

See the full ranking of 64 places →

More work & labour data for Australia

All data for Australia →

Frequently asked questions

What is public sector employees in Australia?
Public sector employees in Australia was 3,649 in 2021, according to International Labour Organization.
What is the highest public sector employees recorded in Australia?
The highest recorded value was 3,661 in 2019.
What is the lowest public sector employees recorded in Australia?
The lowest recorded value was 2,089 in 2001.
How does Australia rank for public sector employees?
Australia ranks 13th out of 64 countries with data for 2021.
Is public sector employees rising or falling in Australia?
Over the last ten years it is up 25.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Australia data come from?
The figures come from International Labour Organization, published as part of Public sector employees. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 21 observations, free to reuse under ILO Terms of Use (attribution required).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Public sector employees in Australia. Statizoid, drawing on International Labour Organization. Retrieved 28 August 2026, from https://labour.statizoid.com/stat/public-sector-employees/australia/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under ILO Terms of Use (attribution required); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://labour.statizoid.com/stat/public-sector-employees/australia/">Public sector employees in Australia</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Public sector employees
Source
International Labour Organization
Licence
ILO Terms of Use (attribution required)
Coverage
64 places, 943 data points, 1987–2026
Last refreshed

With the aim of promoting international comparability, statistics presented on ILOSTAT are based on standard international definitions wherever feasible and may differ from official national figures. This series is based on the 13th ICLS definitions. For time series comparability, it includes countries that have implemented the 19th ICLS standards, for which data are also available in the Work Statistics -- 19th ICLS (WORK) database. Employees are all those workers who hold paid employment jobs, which are those where the incumbents hold employment contracts which give them a basic remuneration not directly dependent upon the revenue of the unit for which they work. Type of job contract refers to permanent versus temporary (i.e. short-term or casual) contracts. For more information, refer to the Worker and Sector Profiles (PROF) database description.