State of the sector report
The State of the sector report provides a comprehensive overview of data, analysis and insights on Queensland’s largest workforce—the Queensland public sector
Watch the introductory video from the Queensland Public Sector Commissioner David Mackie.
I'm pleased to deliver the 2025 State of the Sector Report for Queensland.
The public sector is Queensland's largest workforce with over 270,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) roles.
Our staff are located throughout Queensland, with most staff being employed outside the Brisbane inner city and surrounding suburbs.
Our workforce consists of people who provide important and very visible services in our frontline roles, our doctors and nurses and allied health professionals, our teachers, our police officers, our ambulance workers, our child safety officers and our correctional services staff, just to name a few.
Staff and frontline support roles and corporate roles such as policy, project, human resources, finance and information technology work behind the scenes and play critical roles in supporting our frontline workers deliver the services the community and government expects and needs.
Importantly, while there's been an increase in our public sector FTE over the last 12 months, these have been largely in the frontline and frontline support roles.
9 out of 10 roles continue to be frontline or frontline support roles.
The public sector plays a critical role in supporting Queenslanders and it's important that we understand the size, location and demographics, as well as emerging workforce and community expectations and trends.
Our commitment to transparency allows you to see who makes up the public sector, their backgrounds and experiences.
Their feedback matters, it shapes our future policies, it influences practice and it fosters a culture where everyone feels valued.
This report provides detailed information about our workforce, their experience of working in the sector, what diversity looks like in the sector, our work environment and most importantly, our performance.
This information is drawn from workforce data collected by the Public Sector Commission, the annual Working for Queensland survey data and other sources such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics to provide a comprehensive analysis.
Throughout the report, case studies have been included which importantly highlights the work the sector does.
I hope that, like me, you draw inspiration from these case studies that reflect the sector's spirit of service to the community, with a role in the Queensland public sector being more than just a job.
I invite you to explore the report to learn more about the public sector, our workforce, and the diverse and important work it does.
It provides an overview of the current operating environment as well as the Queensland public sector's response to the challenges in that operating environment.
The report provides insights about how the Public Sector Commission will work with agency stakeholders to guide the sector into the future as well as some of the work that is underway.
This report uses data from multiple sources:
- workforce data—Minimum obligatory human resource information (MOHRI)
- Working for Queensland (WfQ) survey data
- conduct and performance data.
The annual State of the sector report provides access to data, detailed explanations and insights about the Queensland public sector workforce.
Queensland Government agencies provide MOHRI data to the Public Sector Commission on a quarterly basis. MOHRI data is collected and collated from payroll systems across the Queensland public sector and includes information on demographic attributes, classification or pay level as well as planned (e.g. recreation) and unplanned (e.g. sick) leave.
The WfQ survey is an anonymous annual employee survey. The survey captures information on the employment experience of Queensland’s public servants and includes a range of questions on demographics, employee engagement, workgroup and supervisory relationships, innovation, leadership, ethics and integrity as well as work stressors such as workload and burnout. WfQ data in this report was captured in the 2024 WfQ survey. In 2024, 71,853 employees across 63 agencies in the Queensland public sector participated in the survey—2,763 more respondents than 2023.
Conduct and performance data comprises the number of employees assessed and managed for unsatisfactory conduct or performance. It identifies the severity of the matter (category), the timeframe taken to address the matter, and the outcome.
This State of the sector report includes case studies drawn from across the public sector which provide examples of the important work being done across the sector. These case studies highlight the impact of the public sector on the community as well as activities underway to create a world class, high performing, home grown public sector.
Our workforce in profile
This chapter provides analysis on the composition of the Queensland public sector workforce.
Our operating environment
Our operating environment is an insight into the strategies and challenges that guide the way we work as well as our commitment to building a world class, high-performing public sector.
Our diversity
Reporting on progress towards diversity targets and analysis of the employment experience of diversity groups
Our work environment
In this chapter we analyse the various elements of the Queensland public sector work environment that influence engagement and performance.
Our performance
Data on a range of performance metrics.
Our future
Highlighting our optimism and confidence in continuing to build a resilient, adaptable, and committed Queensland public sector
Resources and related information
Access resources, data and links used in the State of the sector report.