2.5 Million Australians Working in Government Roles at a Cost of $232 Billion

More than 2.5 million Australians work in government roles, costing the Australian taxpayer $232 billion (US$150 billion), the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed. Separate ABS data shows that 14,5 million people are employed in Australia. This means more than 17 percent of Australians work in public service, which equates to nearly one in six Australians. Out of the public sector workers, 1.9 million were employed by state governments, 365,400 by the federal government (including defence personnel), and 213,500 by local governments. New South Wales was the state that hired the most public servants across all levels of government at 707,600 employees, followed by Victoria 606,200, Queensland 506,900, and Western Australia 264,300....