Public service remains a stable work environment

The latest public service employment survey shows New Zealand has a strong and stable public service, said State Services Minister Trevor Mallard.

"This is a clear sign that the government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen the public service. The survey results indicate a stable and strong public service that is able to rely on its own expertise and less on outside consultants."

The State Services Commission’s Human Resource Capability Survey collects and analyses anonymous data on all staff in the 37 public service departments in existence at 30 June 2003.

“The 2003 results show the number of permanent staff increased by five per cent in the year to 30 June 2003, once structural government changes (such as agencies entering the public service) were taken into account.

“This was spread across the public service. Since 2000, the public service has grown by around 3,000 employees (10 per cent) indicating continued building of capability, a greater reliance on permanent staff and less reliance on temporary staff.

Trevor Mallard said the public service continues to provide a stable working environment with turnover rates remaining fairly constant for the past four years (11 per cent in 2003) and the number of staff on collective employment agreements increasing over the past year.

“In addition, the number of employees who received redundancy payments during 2002/2003 was at the lowest level since this data was first collected in 1991.

“The survey again found that more women and Maori are moving into senior management. Over the 1998-2003 period women filled between 45-50 per cent and Maori between 15-18 per cent of new senior management jobs.”

"The 2003 survey results show that some progress has been made in closing the gap between salary levels in the public service and those in the labour market as a whole."

The survey can be found at: http://www.ssc.govt.nz/hrc-survey-2003/

Questions and Answers

What is the Human Resource Capability Survey? The survey is carried out each year by the State Services Commission. It gathers anonymous unit-record data on all staff in public service departments. The survey includes a wide range of information relevant to Human Resource (HR) management and Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO).

How long has the data been collected? The unit-record survey has been carried out since 2000, however aggregate survey information, showing overall employment levels in public service departments, has been gathered for many years.

How many people are employed in the public service? As at 30 June 2003, there were 34,445 employees (33,118 full time equivalents) in the public service. The public service of 2003 was approximately the same size as the public service of 1996.

How many people make up the State sector? The public service makes up a small proportion of total State sector employment, as measured by Statistics NZ. In 2003 the public service made up only 13 per cent of the 270,000 State sector jobs.

Where can I find previous reports? http://www.ssc.govt.nz

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