Public Administration and Safety

Overview

EMPLOYED

976,200

PART-TIME SHARE

15%

WORKFORCE SHARE

6.6%

FEMALE SHARE

50%

MEDIAN WEEKLY EARNINGS

$1,913

MEDIAN AGE

42

About this data

Public Administration and Safety is a large employing industry. Around 6.6% of workers have their main job in this industry.

Organisations in this industry are mainly involved in:

  • Central, State or Local Government activities
  • physical, social, economic and general public safety and security services
  • enforcing regulations.

Median earnings are $1,913 per week, higher than all industries median earnings of $1,741.

Details

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    Employment

    Employment in the Public Administration and Safety industry grew over the 20 years to February 2026.
    The number of workers fell by 2,700 (or -0.3%) over the last year.

    Source: ABS, Labour Force Survey, Detailed, February 2026, Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) trend data.
    Note: Over the COVID-19 pandemic period (highlighted section in the chart above), some industries have censored values, resulting in a broken series for impacted industries. This is due to large quarterly fluctuations in employment resulting in trend data being unreliable for these quarters. Where data are available over the COVID-19 pandemic period, JSA recommends caution when using these trend estimates.
    Quarterly employment, Public Administration and Safety Employment
    616000
    621700
    627500
    632400
    635800
    637100
    636800
    636600
    638400
    643100
    650700
    658100
    664100
    668500
    671200
    675700
    681300
    687600
    693800
    700000
    706800
    713700
    719000
    720300
    717400
    712300
    709900
    713200
    722100
    733300
    742900
    746000
    744000
    739300
    735200
    732800
    732100
    732800
    735500
    741200
    749500
    758400
    766000
    771100
    771700
    765100
    757300
    755000
    762700
    781900
    804500
    823500
    835600
    839600
    840300
    842500
    846800
    853800
    862400
    870700
    878300
    886300
    893600
    897600
    896000
    891100
    885800
    886500
    895300
    908100
    920700
    931400
    941500
    952200
    963200
    971900
    978900
    982800
    983100
    979800
    976200

    Sectors

    Public Order and Safety Services is the largest sector in the Public Administration and Safety industry, employing 257,300 workers.

    Source: ABS, Labour Force Survey, Detailed, February 2026, Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) trend data.
    Note: the sum of sectoral employment may not equal the industry total as data are trended separately, and not further defined (nfd) classifications have been excluded.
    Employment by industry sectors Employment
    Public Order and Safety Services 257300
    State Government Administration 251600
    Central Government Administration 195000
    Local Government Administration 152100
    Defence 49500
    Justice 30800
    Regulatory Services 13300
    Government Representation 1500

    Occupations

    Police is the largest employing occupation in the Public Administration and Safety industry.

    The 10 largest employing occupations are shown below.

    Some occupations are common across a number of industries.

    Largest employing occupations

    Source: Ranked using ABS, Labour Force Survey, 2025, four-quarter average data, customised report.
    ANZSCO CodeOccupation title
    4413Police
    5311General Clerks
    5111Contract, Program and Project Administrators
    4422Security Officers and Guards
    5995Inspectors and Regulatory Officers
    2244Intelligence and Policy Analysts
    8999Other Miscellaneous Labourers
    4421Prison Officers
    5412Information Officers
    1324Policy and Planning Managers
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      Data Downloads

      Industry data

      This file contains data for all 19 industries to make comparing industry data easy. Information available includes:

      • industry overview
      • industry employment (20-year time series)
      • industry sector employment
      • top employing occupations by industry.

       

      Industry data - February 2026.xlsx

      industry_data_-_february_2026.xlsx123358

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