Public sector employee jobs rose 3.3 per cent between June 2024 and June 2025, while wages increased 7.6 per cent according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said: 'Wages paid to public sector employees totalled $249.5 billion in the 2024-25 financial year across all levels of government. This was an increase of 7.6 per cent, slightly less than the 8.0 per cent annual growth seen in 2023-24.'
'The rise in the public sector wage bill reflected a combination of underlying wage growth driven by new enterprise agreements and growth in employment.
'State government continued to be the largest employer of public sector employees, making up 77 per cent of public sector employment. This was followed by the Commonwealth government (15 per cent) and Local government (8 per cent).'
Commonwealth government employee jobs rose 5.6 per cent to 385,900 for June 2025. Wages paid by the Commonwealth government in 2024-25 was $40.9 billion, a rise of 9.5 per cent compared to the 10.0 per cent rise in 2023-24.
State government employee jobs rose by 2.9 per cent, to almost 2.0 million jobs for June 2025. Wages paid by state and territory governments was $191.1 billion for 2024-25 (+7.3 per cent), compared to the 7.6 per cent rise in 2023-24.
Local government employee jobs rose 2.1 per cent to 218,000 for June 2025 and wages paid in 2024-25 rose to $17.6 billion (6.9 per cent), compared with a 7.3 per cent rise the year before.
| Level of Government | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commonwealth Government | 350.3 | 365.4 | 385.9 |
| State Government | 1,869.3 | 1,936.4 | 1,993.4 |
| Local Government | 208.2 | 213.5 | 218.0 |
| Level of Government | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commonwealth Government | 33,935.6 | 37,318.6 | 40,858.0 |
| State Government | 165,408.8 | 178,032.5 | 191,077.5 |
| Local Government | 15,325.7 | 16,445.5 | 17,577.6 |
'The public sector is concentrated in three key industries: Public administration and safety, Education and training, and Health care and social assistance. Together these three industries make up nearly 90 per cent of public sector employee jobs and wages.
'Of these three industries, Public administration and safety had the highest growth in both employee jobs and wages.' Mr Crick said.
Public administration and safety employee jobs rose by 31,200 (3.7 per cent) to 880,600 between June 2024 and June 2025. This was followed by Health care and social assistance which rose by 26,300 employee jobs (4.1 per cent), to 668,600. Education and training increased by 14,400 employee jobs (1.9 per cent) to 768,300.
For 2024-25, Public administration and safety wages increased by $6.8 billion (8.1 per cent) to $90.2 billion. This was followed by Health care and social assistance which increased $4.5 billion (7.3 per cent) to $66.2 billion. Education and training increased $3.5 billion (6.0 per cent) to $61.4 billion.
'Electricity, gas, water and waste services saw the strongest growth outside of the main public sector industries, with a 6.5 per cent rise in employee jobs to reach 66,400 jobs, and a 17.7 per cent rise in wages to $9.1 billion.' Mr Crick said.
