We have been reporting on these public service headcount numbers here in this little blog and its great to see the SMH do an analysis of what the cuts Peter Dutton and the Coalition are talking about will actually mean.

You can find the SMH/AGe story here.

The APS headcount we covered on Monday was released on Friday, so it is the most up to date figures.

And far from showing that the growth in the public service (which is still very low when considered on a per population basis – and when the population grows it makes sense that the public service which implements their services also grows) has been in Canberra, it shows that the public service has been boosted across the country.

As a reminder:

• The APS headcount was 193,503, an increase of 16,462 or 8.5% from December 2023
• Ongoing employment as a % of total headcount is 92.1%, up from 88.5% in June 2022
• Overall, APS headcount is up 34,313 or 21.6% since June 2022
• 64.1% of the APS headcount is located outside of Canberra, up from 61.7% in June 2022
• The APS headcount in Canberra is 69,438
• The APS headcount outside of Canberra increased by 25,846 or 26.3% since June 2022
• 75.3% of the growth in APS headcount since June 2022 was outside of Canberra
• 24,377 or 12.6% of APS headcount is located in regional Australia, up by 3,229 or 15.3% since June 2022.

And for those who like tables:

Here’s the broad geographic breakdown of the APS workforce by capital city, rest of the state and state