Queensland's State of the Sector report shows almost 30 per cent of public service earning at least $120,000
A new report to be released today reveals the Queensland government's workforce consisted of about 270,883 full-time equivalent (FTE) roles as of March this year.
It represents a 5 per cent uptick from 258,012 FTEs in March 2024, with the majority of the growth attributed to an increase in health workers.
When this is converted to a total headcount, which takes into account part-time workers, employee numbers climbed from 308,033 to 322,600 over this period.
The details are contained in the annual State of the Sector report, which is the first snapshot of the public service since the new LNP government came to power last year.
When looking at the total headcount, about 64,500 workers were earning between $120,000 and $149,999 per year as of March — equating to about one in five employees.
This is up 38 per cent from the 46,753 workers in this wage bracket the same time last year, when they made up 15.2 per cent of the public service.
Another 19,001 employees — or 5.89 per cent of the total headcount — were earning between $150,000 and $179,999 as of March this year.
This reflected a 66.7 per cent increase from a year earlier when there were 11,397 workers in this income category.
Workers earning more than $180,000 per year made up 2.3 per cent of the headcount — or a total of 7,439 workers, compared to 5,880 employees 12 months prior.
Overall, the number of workers making at least $100,000 per year made up 44.7 per cent of the public service and those earning at least $120,000 accounted for 28.2 per cent.
In the latest state budget, the government forecast it would spend almost $38 billion on public services wages in 2025-26, with this set to reach about $42 billion by 2028-29.
The Queensland government is the state's biggest employer.
The State of the Sector report reveals FTE corporate roles — which includes legal services, marketing, and human resources — increased 3.45 per cent in the past year.
In comparison, FTE key frontline roles, which includes positions such as police officers, firefighters, and teachers, grew 4.02 per cent.
Frontline and frontline support roles, which consist of jobs like security officers, policy analysts, general clerks, and gardeners, climbed 7.56 per cent.
Overall, corporate roles make up about one tenth of FTE public service jobs.
Health workers make up the largest portion of FTEs — accounting for 42.36 per cent of the public service, followed by education workers who make up 30.16 per cent.
The report says the number of FTE police roles increased 3.26 per cent in the 12 months to March following drops in the prior two years.
It attributes the growth to a "significant recruitment drive".
There was also a 6.04 per cent increase in FTE nurses and midwives, an 8.42 per cent jump in doctors, and a 5.19 per cent rise in ambulance officers.
FTE teacher positions increased by 0.23 per cent and child safety case workers ticked up by 0.68 per cent, while correction officer numbers grew 13.88 per cent.
The number of FTE TAFE teachers and tutors fell by more than 2 per cent. So too did the number of disability support workers.
The report notes the TAFE workforce is designed to "expand and contract" to meet the demand for qualifications and skill sets.
The reporting period of between March last year and March this year includes roughly the last six months of the former Labor government and the first six months of the new LNP administration.
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