New APS employment data shows women have reached parity at APS1-SES2 classifications

Women now make up 50.1 per cent of staff at the SES2 level, meaning parity has been reached at every level from APS1 to SES2.

The data from the Public Service Commission is reported biannually, with the latest tranche from June 30 this year.

The proportion of women at the SES1 rank is now 54.7 per cent, while SES3s are comprised of 47.4 per cent women.

Women make up 60.4 per cent of the federal public sector workforce, a figure that has remained stable.

Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher linked the increase in the number of senior women to the Albanese government's commitment to becoming a model employer.

"The Albanese government has said since day one that we want the APS to be a model employer and as the Minister for the Public Service and the Minister for Women, it gives me great pride to see our public service leading by example," Senator Gallagher said.

"This isn't just about representation; it is also about women's economic equality and ensuring that women are being afforded the same leadership opportunities that their male counterparts are and the pay packets that come with those roles.

"Earlier this year, I announced that the APS's gender pay gap hit a record low of 5.2 per cent and I look forward to continuing to drive gender equality in the APS through bargaining outcomes and parental leave reform in response to the APS commissioner's review of the Maternity Leave Act."

The review into the Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1973, recommended maternity leave of 12 weeks should be extended to both parents, and increased to 18 weeks.

The recommendation has since been adopted as a common condition in service-wide enterprise bargaining, though many agencies already offer the increased entitlement.

It will not be rolled out across the service until agreement is reached on pay and conditions and agencies vote on their enterprise agreements.

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The employment data shows the total number of APS staff has grown by 11,041 since June 30 2022, to a total workforce of 170,332.

The number of APS staff on temporary contracts, referred to as non-ongoing staff, also grew by 815. Non-ongoing staff make up 11.3 per cent of the federal bureaucracy.

The number of First Nations employees increased by 49 to 6002, but decreased proportionally to 3.5 per cent, from 3.7 per cent a year ago.

The figure has remained largely unchanged in recent years, though the Public Service Commission plans to lift the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the APS to 5 per cent by 2030.

The number staff with a recorded disability also increased by 702 people, to 8734, but proportional representation remained roughly the same as in 2022, at 5.1 per cent of the workforce.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly defined non-ongoing staff as contractors.

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