Raraunga Ohumahi - Paearu mahi Workforce Data - Conditions of employment

The graph below shows the percentage of Public Service staff in part-time work between 2014 and 2024 — a part-time job is defined as someone working less than 0.75 of a full-time equivalent position.

Over this period, despite legislative reforms that widened access to flexible working arrangements, the percentage of part-time workers has continually trended downwards (from 6.1% in 2014 to 3.5% in 2024). Figures from Stats NZ’s Household Labour Force Survey shows there’s also a downward trend in the wider labour market (from 22.1% in the year to June 2014 to 19.7% in the year to June 2024).

On average, part-time workers are paid 9.6% less than full-time workers on a full-time equivalent basis (as at 30 June 2024), although this gap has been decreasing steadily over time and is now half of what it was ten years ago (19.6% in 2014).

The use of part-time employment as a flexible working option can be better understood by analysing the demographic profile of people who work part-time, as well as other factors (for example, their occupation and the type of employment agreement). These factors are explored in the visualisation below.

Part-Time Use in the Public Service(XLSX, 541 KB)

The visualisation above shows that part-time work is high in early career (possibly in conjunction with study), during the ages when caring for children is more likely, and near retirement age.  Part-time work is considerably more likely to be taken up by females and those of another gender, than males.

Part-time work is more prevalent in some occupational groups, with the highest proportions in social, health and education workers, other professionals, clerical and administrative workers and contact centre workers. These also tend to be the occupations with the highest proportions of female staff. Occupations that are male dominated (for example, ICT professionals and technicians) are less likely to be working part-time.

A higher proportion of fixed-term employment agreements are for part-time work compared to permanent employment agreements.  The decrease in the proportion of Public Service roles that are fixed-term over the past few years is likely contributing to the fall in the proportion part-time.

Fixed term employees are employed on a full-time or part-time basis for a specified period, project or event. The visualisation shows the number of Public Service employees on fixed term employment agreements for the years 2019–2024.

At 30 June 2024, 95.1% of Public Service employees were on permanent employment contracts with the remaining 4.9% of employees on fixed term contracts. This is down from 6.4% last year and is the lowest proportion of employees on fixed term contracts since current records began in 2000. Contributing to this decline is the winding down of temporary roles involved in Stats NZ’s 2023 Census. It is also likely that agencies have made proportionately higher fiscal savings by the non-renewal of fixed term roles at the conclusion of fixed term work than permanent roles.

The five organisations with the highest proportion of staff on fixed term employment contracts were:

• Ministry for Regulation (52.2%)
• Ministry for Ethnic Communities (42.3%)
• Ministry of Defence (41.7%)
• Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (25.2%)
• Office for Māori Crown Relations-Te Arawhiti (19.3%)

Employment Type(XLSX, 11 KB)

Secondments

There were 223 Public Service employees on secondment to another Public Service agency as at 30 June 2024. This is down from the levels seen in 2021 and 2022 when secondments increased to support agencies to deliver the COVID-19 response. Secondments had generally trended upwards since the Workforce Data collection started in 2000, both in terms of numbers of secondments and as a proportion of the workforce. However, secondments as a proportion of the workforce were at their lowest level (0.32%) since 2011. Note - secondments within departments are not included in these figures.

The number of secondments in leadership and management positions decreased to 33 as of 30 June 2024, from 68 in 2023.

Secondments(XLSX, 11 KB)

Hours contracted versus hours worked

In Te Taunaki Public Service Census 2021 participants worked on average 41.1 hours per week against a contracted rate of 38.1 hours, leading to an overall gap of 3 hours. These figures average across both full and part-time employees.

Hours Agency(XLSX, 11 KB)

Hours System(XLSX, 10 KB)