Executive Summary

1 This is the first survey of Human Resource Capability (HRC) in the Public Service that uses unit record data, including occupation groupings. The key features of the survey results are listed below.

• The long-term trend of gradual reductions in employment levels in the Public Service has continued. The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff employed in the Public Service fell by 408 (1.4%) to 29,055 over the year to 30 June 2000 (see paragraphs 7 - 8).
• Collective bargaining in the Public Service has fallen significantly under the Employment Contracts Act. As at June 2000, 43% of Public Service staff were employed on individual employment contracts, up from 17% in 1995 (see paragraphs 10 - 12).
• Restructuring activity in the Public Service is at a relatively low level, with 779 staff receiving severance payments. This is down from the long-term peak of 1,585 for the year ending June 1993. Restructuring in one department accounted for 64% of those receiving severance payments in the Public Service this year. Restructuring in the selected State sector organisations fell significantly compared with last year (see paragraphs 14 - 16).
• Overall turnover is at similar moderate levels to the past few years. Call centre staff (of whom a large number are employed in the Public Service) have the highest turnover rate among the occupation groups. Staff in some occupations in the corporate and support areas have the next highest turnover rates. Other front line staff (case-workers in two departments), policy analysts and economists have slightly higher than average resignation rates (see paragraphs 17 - 20).
• On diversity, the Public Service employs a much higher proportion of staff who are Maori or Pacific Peoples than the wider labour force for almost all occupational groups. This supports an argument that Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) requirements in the Public Service have produced gains in the employment of staff from these groups (see paragraphs 23 - 25).
• A pay gap is shown by the data where average salaries for Maori and Pacific Peoples are lower than the average salary for all staff in the Public Service (89% and 82% respectively) and the average salary for all women is 81% of the average salary for men. In most cases, these salary gaps are much less within occupation groups, suggesting that a large part of the disparity is due to occupational segregation in the workforce. However, the salary gaps persist for women and widen for Maori and Pacific Peoples within the Managers occupation group. This suggests that Maori and Pacific Peoples managers are mostly found in more junior levels of management (see paragraph 27).