New data shows $232 billion of wages paid to public sector employees.
Public sector employment went up by 3.6% between June 2023 and June 2024, with increases recorded across all levels of government, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The ABS said the state government remained the largest level of government with around 77% of public sector employment. This is followed by the Commonwealth government (15%) and local government (8%).
Employment in the Commonwealth government registered the biggest increase between June 2023 and June 2024 after going up 4.3% to 365,400.
The state government recorded the second-highest increase with 3.6% to 1.9 million employees, while the local government registered the smallest increase with 2.5% to 213,500 employees.
By industry, public administration and safety, education and training, as well as health care and social assistance make up about 90% of public sector employment.
The health care and social assistance logged the biggest employment growth, rising 4.4% to 642,400 employees. The other sectors registered the following increases:
Meanwhile, a total of $232 billion of wages were paid to public sector employees during the 2023-24 financial year across all levels of government.
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, said this is an eight per cent increase from the year before.
"The rise in the public sector wage bill reflected a combination of underlying wage growth, higher employment, and other compositional changes, such as hours worked," Jarvis said in a statement.
The Commonwealth government paid $37.3 billion in wages, an increase of 10% from the past year, according to the ABS. The state government paid around $178.4 billion in wages, up by 7.6% on 2022-23, while the local government paid $16.4 billion, a 7.3% increase from the year before.
The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) called out the government for the ballooning number of employees in the sector.
"Most Australians understand there has to be a certain number of people employed to maintain public order and ensure the efficient running of government. However, today's data shows the current size and cost of Australia's public sector is simply unsustainable," said Daniel Wild, Deputy Executive Director of the IPA, in a statement.
Wild pointed out that the ballooning public service is further putting pressure on Australian taxpayers already facing a cost-of-living crisis.
"The cost of Australia's public sector is exorbitant, and over just the past two years alone there has been an additional £14 billion spent on public sector wages and salaries for no discernible improvement in service delivery to the community," Wild added.
According to the official, leaders need to reduce the size of the government and cut red tape in order to lift Australians out of recession.
"With Australia in a prolonged cost-of-living crisis, alongside a bleak economic outlook and personal recession, governments at all levels should be focused on policies that will create productive jobs within the private sector, not simply expanding their own departments," he said.
