What share of public services employment is contributed by the private sector?
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Box from Economic Bulletin 7/2026 on public services employment: it has grown faster than in other sectors since the pandemic, driven mainly by health and social work, but a large share of those jobs is provided by the private or non-profit sector.
Key points
- Over the last three years public services accounted for more than one-third of employment growth with less than one-quarter of workers
- From 2008 to 2025 around 6.9 million public services jobs were created, 4.8 million of them in health and social work
- Only around half of those jobs can be attributed to the public sector; in health, around 1.9 of the 4.8 million
- Growth is concentrated in care for the elderly and disabled, a structural trend linked to ageing
Who is affected
Labour market and public finance analysis
Plain-language version
An ECB study shows that public services such as health, education and administration have created many jobs, especially in health and care for the elderly. But only half of those jobs are in the public sector: the rest are provided by private companies and non-profits. An ageing population means this trend will continue.
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Summary produced with artificial intelligence from the official publication. It may contain errors: always check the original document.
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