Occupational profile of the workforce, employee numbers, occupational trends and customer-facing roles.
Occupational profile of workforce
Public Service employees were engaged in a wide range of jobs spread across 295 different occupations in 2026. These can be divided into 10 broad occupational groups as shown in the chart below.
In 2026, the two largest groups are Inspectors and Regulatory Officers and Social, Health and Education Workers, accounting for 20.4% and 16.7% respectively of the Public Service workforce. Public servants working in these occupation groups are primarily delivering services to the public, including occupations such as Corrections Officers and Welfare Workers.
The share of Public Service employees made up of Inspectors and Regulatory Officers has increased for the third consecutive year, after falling to a record low 17.8% in 2023.
2026 figures include an update to the occupation classification (see the following section for more detail). While this has improved and expanded the options available to describe Public Service roles – meaning fewer roles classified under “other” or “not elsewhere classified” codes – it has also resulted in a number of transfers between our broad occupational groups, for example about 500 ‘central processing officers’ previously grouped under Social, Health and Educations Workers were reclassified, moving them to the Clerical and Administrative Workers group. Due to this reclassification, the proportion of Social, Health and Education Workers has dropped to its lowest level since 2008 (without the reclassification, the proportion would have increased slightly from 2025).
The third largest group of Public Service employees was Information Professionals, with 15.0% of the workforce. Following declines in the previous two years, the latest figure has risen to just above the record high of 14.9% seen in 2023. This increase was also driven by reclassification changes. The Information Professionals encompass various roles, such as data analysts, business and intelligence analysts, service designers, non-policy advisors, librarians, archivists, project managers, statisticians, and governance roles.
Staff numbers by occupation
These occupation statistics are collated using Stats NZ classifications. Over the last two years we have transitioned to the new Stats NZ National Occupation List, which provides more relevant occupations for the Public Service workforce. Agencies have taken the opportunity to relook at how they code their job roles to occupations. These reclassifications have affected occupational changes over the past year, in particular contributing to the decreases in the Other Professional and Other occupation groups. See the previous section for more detail.
Between 2025 and 2026, the Public Service workforce (FTEs) increased by 1,258 (or 2.0%) and most occupation groups increased in size over this time. Information Professionals saw the largest rise, increasing by 567 FTEs (or 6.3%), although this was mostly related to a reclassification of roles from ‘Other professionals not elsewhere included’. Many of these roles transferred into “Business Advisors”, a new code within Information Professionals.
The next biggest increase was in Inspectors and Regulatory Officers, up 384 FTEs (or 3.0%), led by an increase in the number of corrections officers. Clerical and Administrative workers were up a similar amount, 358 FTEs (or 7.3%), although this increase is more than explained by the reclassification of Central Processing Officers (from the Social, Health and Education Workers group where they were classified previously).
Only two occupation groups saw a decrease across 2025/26: Other Professionals, down 363 FTEs (or 12.9%) and Social, Health and Education Workers, down 238 FTEs (or 2.2%). Excluding the reclassification of Central Processing Officers, the Social, Health and Education Workers group would have seen an increase of about 3%.
Note: Public Service occupation figures are collated using Stats NZ classifications. Agencies code their job roles to these occupations. Changes across time in occupational figures can sometimes reflect changes in how agencies code their roles, rather than real world changes.
Public Service occupational trends
The following table shows how occupation groups by Public Service department have changed over the last 5 years.
Customer-facing roles
In 2025, just over 39% of public servants who responded to the Public Service Census had customer-facing roles, working directly with the public, external customers and clients, or people in their care.