Public sector jobs also up by 3.3%
Wages paid to public sector employees went up by 7.6% in the 2024–25 financial year, reaching a total of $249.5 billion across all levels of government, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The latest ABS data revealed a slightly lower annual growth rate in wages paid to public sector employees, including those employed by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments, and local government employees.
"Wages paid to public sector employees totalled $249.5 billion in the 2024–25 financial year across all levels of government. This was an increase of 7.6%, slightly less than the 8.0% annual growth seen in 2023–24," said Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, in a statement.
"The rise in the public sector wage bill reflected a combination of underlying wage growth driven by new enterprise agreements and growth in employment."
Wages paid by the Commonwealth government rose by 9.5% to $40.9 billion in the 2024–25 financial year, slightly lower than the previous year's 10% increase.
State and territory governments paid a total of $191.1 billion, up by 7.3%, but still slightly lower than last year's 7.6% increase.
Local government employees received a total wage of $17.6 billion, an increase of 6.9%. However, this is also lower than the 7.3% increase from the year before.
Public sector jobs
Meanwhile, jobs in the public sector went up by 3.3% between June 2024 and June 2025, with state government employees accounting for 77% of public sector employment.
Commonwealth government employees accounted for 15% of public sector staff, while local government employees accounted for eight per cent.
Jobs for state government employees reached almost two million in June 2025, rising by 2.9% in the financial year.
Commonwealth government employee jobs went up by 5.6% to 385,000 in the same period, while local government employee jobs increased by 2.1% to 218,000.
Crick noted that three key industries made up nearly 90% of public sector employee jobs and wages. They are:
- Public administration and safety (880,600 jobs; $90.2 billion total wages)
- Education and training (768,300 jobs; $61.4 billion total wages)
- Healthcare and social assistance (668,600 jobs; $66.2 billion total wages)
"Electricity, gas, water, and waste services saw the strongest growth outside of the main public sector industries, with a 6.5% rise in employee jobs to reach 66,400 jobs, and a 17.7% rise in wages to $9.1 billion," Crick said.
