Public Administration and Safety

Overview

EMPLOYED

969,400

PART-TIME SHARE

16%

WORKFORCE SHARE

6.7%

FEMALE SHARE

50%

MEDIAN WEEKLY EARNINGS

$1,750

MEDIAN AGE

43

About this data

Public Administration and Safety is a large employing industry. Around 6.7% of workers have their main job in this industry.

Organisations in this industry are mainly involved in:

  • Central, State or Local Government activities
  • physical, social, economic and general public safety and security services
  • enforcing regulations.

Median earnings are $1,750 per week, higher than all industries median earnings of $1,600.

Details

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    Employment

    Employment in the Public Administration and Safety industry grew over the 20 years to August 2024.
    The number of workers grew by 49,000 (or 5.3%) over the last year.

    Source: ABS, Labour Force Survey, Detailed, August 2024, Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) trend data.
    Note: Over the COVID-19 pandemic period (highlighted section in the chart above), some industries have censored values, resulting in a broken series for impacted industries. This is due to large quarterly fluctuations in employment resulting in trend data being unreliable for these quarters. Where data are available over the COVID-19 pandemic period, JSA recommends caution when using these trend estimates.
    Quarterly employment, Public Administration and Safety Employment
    595400
    600000
    603700
    607100
    609700
    612300
    616100
    621700
    627400
    632300
    635700
    637000
    636800
    636800
    638600
    643300
    650700
    658000
    664000
    668400
    671200
    675800
    681400
    687700
    693900
    700100
    706800
    713600
    718700
    720000
    717300
    712600
    710300
    713700
    722300
    733200
    742400
    745500
    743600
    739100
    735000
    732800
    732300
    733300
    736200
    741800
    750000
    758800
    766300
    771200
    771700
    765500
    758200
    756200
    763900
    782700
    804900
    823500
    835600
    839900
    841000
    843300
    847600
    854700
    863200
    871300
    878900
    886700
    893800
    897400
    895700
    890900
    885800
    886500
    894900
    907500
    920400
    931700
    943000
    955800
    969400

    Sectors

    State Government Administration is the largest sector in the Public Administration and Safety industry, employing 272,600 workers.

    Source: ABS, Labour Force Survey, Detailed, August 2024, Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) trend data.
    Note: the sum of sectoral employment may not equal the industry total as data are trended separately, and not further defined (nfd) classifications have been excluded.
    Employment by industry sectors Employment
    State Government Administration 272600
    Public Order and Safety Services 229100
    Central Government Administration 180200
    Local Government Administration 154700
    Defence 45600
    Justice 31000
    Regulatory Services 10000
    Government Representation 1600

    Occupations

    General Clerks is the largest employing occupation in the Public Administration and Safety industry.

    The 10 largest employing occupations are shown below.

    Some occupations are common across a number of industries.

    Largest employing occupations

    Source: Ranked using ABS, Labour Force Survey, 2023, four-quarter average data, customised report.
    ANZSCO CodeOccupation title
    5311General Clerks
    4413Police
    5111Contract, Program and Project Administrators
    4422Security Officers and Guards
    5995Inspectors and Regulatory Officers
    2244Intelligence and Policy Analysts
    4421Prison Officers
    5412Information Officers
    8999Other Miscellaneous Labourers
    1324Policy and Planning Managers
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      Data Downloads

      Industry data

      This file contains data for all 19 industries to make comparing industry data easy. Information available includes:

      • industry overview
      • industry employment (20-year time series)
      • industry sector employment
      • top employing occupations by industry.

       

      Industry data - August 2024.xlsx

      industry_data_-_august_2024.xlsx119159

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