Public Administration and Safety

EMPLOYED

991,400

PART-TIME SHARE

15%

WORKFORCE SHARE

6.7%

FEMALE SHARE

50%

MEDIAN WEEKLY EARNINGS

$1,913

MEDIAN AGE

43

Public Administration and Safety is a large employing industry. Around 6.7% 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.

On this page

    Employment

    Employment in the Public Administration and Safety industry grew over the 20 years to November 2025.
    The number of workers grew by 19,900 (or 2%) over the last year.

    Source: ABS, Labour Force Survey, Detailed, November 2025, 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
    612200
    616000
    621700
    627500
    632400
    635900
    637200
    636800
    636700
    638400
    643100
    650700
    658100
    664100
    668500
    671200
    675700
    681300
    687600
    693800
    700000
    706800
    713800
    719000
    720300
    717400
    712300
    709900
    713200
    722100
    733400
    742900
    746100
    744100
    739300
    735100
    732600
    731800
    732500
    735100
    740800
    749100
    758000
    765700
    770800
    771300
    764800
    756900
    754700
    762300
    781600
    804200
    823100
    835200
    839200
    839900
    842100
    846400
    853400
    862000
    870300
    877900
    885900
    893300
    897200
    895600
    890700
    885400
    886100
    894900
    907700
    920200
    930700
    940600
    951200
    962300
    971500
    979700
    986000
    989900
    991400

    Sectors

    Public Order and Safety Services is the largest sector in the Public Administration and Safety industry, employing 256,100 workers.

    Source: ABS, Labour Force Survey, Detailed, November 2025, 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 256100
    State Government Administration 247000
    Central Government Administration 197900
    Local Government Administration 154100
    Defence 49300
    Justice 32800
    Regulatory Services 12900
    Government Representation 1500

    Occupations

    General Clerks 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, 2024, four-quarter average data, customised report.
    ANZSCO CodeOccupation title
    5311General Clerks
    4413Police
    5111Contract, Program and Project Administrators
    4422Security Officers and Guards
    2244Intelligence and Policy Analysts
    5995Inspectors and Regulatory Officers
    4421Prison Officers
    8999Other Miscellaneous Labourers
    5412Information Officers
    1324Policy and Planning Managers

    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 - November 2025.xlsx

    industry_data_-_november_2025.xlsx100516

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