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Public Service annual analysis – year to June 2024

There were 63,537 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff as at 30 June 2024. This is an annual increase of 0.7% (or 421 FTEs) from 63,117 FTEs in 2023.

2023/24 is the first year in which some workforce data has been collected quarterly. This shows that FTEs peaked in the December 2023 quarter at 65,699 and have decreased by 3.3% (or 2,162 FTEs) since then, as shown in the table below. Although, some of this 6-monthly decrease is seasonal, our modelling, and the large size of the decrease   and the number of redundancies suggests that agencies are implementing the Government’s savings intentions in advance of the financial impact of Budget 24.

Across the year, the growth in 2024 is considerably below that seen over the five previous years (2018 to 2023), when the average annual increase was 4.9%.

The largest increases in FTEs occurred at:

• The Department of Corrections (up 620 FTEs, or 6.4%), due to increased funding for recruitment campaigns to lift front line staff to meet the increasing prison population. Over 1,000 new corrections officers were hired in the 12 months ending 30 June 2024, which was 370 more than in the previous 12 months
• Inland Revenue (up 361 FTEs, or 9.0%), primarily related to a workforce for Cost-of-Living policy initiative, front-loading customer service recruitment for the 2024 Income Tax Assessment season, and recruitment fill additional roles to support Budget 24 initiatives, which includes funding to hire additional Customer Compliance Specialists to undertake audit related activities.
• Oranga Tamariki-Ministry for Children (up 242 FTEs, or 5.2%) driven by frontline staffing increase, particularly in Youth Justice residences. There was also some increase in ICT roles to reduce reliance on external contractors.

While overall, the Public Service workforce increased by 0.7% in 2024, the majority of agencies decreased, with 22 of the 39 Public Service departments and departmental agencies dropping in size (16 increased, while 1 – the Ministry for Regulation – was established during the year). These decreases reflect agencies responding to the Government’s intentions to make savings by reducing back-office services. The largest decrease in FTEs were at:

• Stats NZ (down 404 FTEs, or 23.8%), which was also due to the Census 2023 programme ending.
• The Ministry of Social Development (down 269 FTEs, or 3.0%), attributable to natural attrition within the workforce, conclusion of fixed term arrangements, and some voluntary redundancy.
• The Ministry for Primary Industries (down 231 FTEs, or 6.1%); there were no reductions to frontline services and statutory roles, and measures to recruit critical positions continue.

Departmental FTE changes(XLSX, 33 KB)

Crown entity FTE changes_ws(XLSX, 14 KB)

Crown Entity Annual analysis – year to June 2024 

To help measure progress on the Government’s contractor and consultant target, the Public Service Commission last year begun collecting workforce data for the baseline agencies that sit outside the core Public Service. That is Crown entities, Police, NZ Defence Force and the Māori Health Authority.  This data is presented in the ‘Crown Entity FTE changes’ table in the preceding visualisation. It shows that FTE numbers across these baseline agencies sum to 131,205 FTEs as at 30 June 2024, an increase of 2.1% from June 2023.   

The baseline agencies include two of the three non-Public Service departments in the Executive branch (Police and the NZ Defence Force). If we include the third non-Public Service department, the Parliamentary Counsel Office, the FTEs at 30 June 2024 sum to 131,312. 

Contractor and consultant expenditure 

This section presents results on contractor and consultant expenditure in the Public Service and Crown entities and how it has changed over time. 

The Governments expectation is that by the end of the 2024/25 financial year there will be a reduction in operational expenditure (OPEX) of $400 million from the 2022/23 baseline. This baseline covers expenditure from departments, departmental agencies, Crown entities, NZDF, NZ Police and Māori Health Authority.   

Across all agencies, the final full-year results for 2023/24 confirm that there was a decrease in OPEX of around $274 million (or 13%) from the previous year to $1,887m. 

C&C agency(XLSX, 19 KB)

C&C share(XLSX, 10 KB)

Note the 2022/23 OPEX for the Ministry of Culture and Heritage has been revised down it was first published. This has the effect of reported total OPEX has changed from $911.9 million to $911.6 million and total expenditure has changed from $1,268.5 million to $1,268.1 million.  There was no change to CAPEX. 

Crown Entity Annual analysis – year to June 2024 

To help measure progress on the Government’s contractor and consultant target, the Public Service Commission last year begun collecting workforce data for the baseline agencies that sit outside the core Public Service. That is Crown entities, Police, NZ Defence Force and the Māori Health Authority.  This data is presented in the ‘Crown Entity expenditure’ tab of the preceding visualisation.  

It shows that contractor and consultant expenditure across Crown entities, NZDF, Police and Māori Health Authority – increased slightly in 2023/24. There was a total of $1,598 million contract or and consultant expenditure - $1,268 million OPEX and $330 million CAPEX.  OPEX was up 1.5 percent from 2022/23 for these agencies.  

The baseline agencies include two of the three non-Public Service departments in the Executive branch (Police and the NZ Defence Force). If we include the third non-Public Service department, the Parliamentary Counsel Office, the total contractor and consultant expenditure for 2024/25 would be $1,606 million. 

Contractor and consultants guidance

Public Service contractor and consultant data for the 2017/18 year was the first to be published using our new guidance on how to report contractor and consultant expenditure. Before the new guidance, there was inconsistency in how organisations reported this expenditure.

Contractors and Consultants Guidance (PDF, 642 KB)

The focus is on operating expenditure, as the large one-off investments that capital expenditure typically represents are likely to have a different mix of public servants and contractors/consultants and the resulting expenditure is likely to be volatile over time due to the fixed-term nature of these projects.

Contractor and consultant expenditure definitions

Operating expenditure (OPEX) — this is the money spent for contractors and consultants that are not for the purpose of acquiring or developing assets.

Capital expenditure (CAPEX) — this is the money spent to acquire resources to develop assets, tangible and intangible, through procurement of contractors and consultants.

Total workforce spend — this is the sum of salary expenditure for permanent and fixed-term employees, and operational expenditure on contractors and consultants.

The first release was for the 2017/2018 financial year and can be located here.

The Commission uses Stats NZ’s Business Demography data to monitor the size and regional composition of the public sector. This data shows that the public sector employed around 481,500 people in February 2024, 19.2% of New Zealand’s total workforce (2,502,800). The majority (88%) work in central government (423,300) and 12% in local government (58,200).  

The central government sector comprises all public sector employees, except those in local government. This includes the Public Service, health sector (including Health New Zealand employees), the education sector (including primary, area and secondary school staff and staff at tertiary education institutions), and Crown entities.  

Over the last 5 years, the overall public sector workforce increased by 15.9% (with central government and local government both up 15.9%). This compares with an 7.8% growth in the private sector over the same period.  

The sector composition of workforce varies amongst the regions (see the interactive dashboard below).  

NZ workforce by sector(CSV, 132 KB)