Public sector employment and earnings growth moderates in 2025-26
Public sector jobs rose 2.3 per cent between June 2025 and June 2026, while wages increased 6.6 per cent according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said: "Wages paid to public sector employees totalled $266.1 billion across all levels of government in 2025-26. This was an increase of 6.6 per cent, down from the 7.8 per cent annual growth recorded in 2024-25.
"The moderation in wages growth in 2025-26 reflected slowing growth in Commonwealth and Local government jobs. The 2.3 per cent annual increase in total public sector jobs was the slowest since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019-20.
"Growth in the 2025-26 public sector wage bill was driven by a combination of underlying wage growth and ongoing demand for health and education services within state and territory governments."
Industry insights
The public sector is concentrated in three key industries: Public administration and safety, Education and training, and Health care and social assistance. Together these three industries account for nearly 90 per cent of public sector jobs and wages.
"Of these three industries, Health care and social assistance recorded the strongest rate of growth in 2025-26 for both jobs and wages," Mr Crick said.
Health care and social assistance jobs rose by 29,700 (+4.4 per cent) to 669,800 between June 2025 and June 2026. Wages paid increased by $5.5 billion (+8.5 per cent) to $70.9 billion in 2025-26.
Education and training jobs increased by 17,400 (+2.3 per cent) to 790,800, while wages paid rose by $3.2 billion (+5.2 per cent) to $64.6 billion.
Public administration and safety jobs increased by 4,600 (+0.5 per cent) to 883,300, while wages paid rose by $5.6 billion (+6.2 per cent) to $96.5 billion.
Media notes
- As an aggregate measure of total cash wages and salaries, estimates capture a mix of compositional changes in the labour market that can’t be separated. This includes pay rises, periodic payments, variations in hours paid and changes in employment. It complements but is different to the measure of underlying wage growth reported in the ABS’ Wage Price Index.
- To learn more about our different labour measures, their purpose and how to use them, see our guide to Labour statistics. It provides summary information on labour market topics including Industry employment and the Earnings Guide.
- Estimates of percentage change have been calculated using unrounded estimates and may be different from, but are more accurate than, movements obtained from calculating percentage changes using the rounded estimates presented in this publication.
- The ABS acknowledges the continued support of the ATO in enabling the ABS to produce insights into the Australian labour market from Single Touch Payroll data.
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