Key facts
In 2025:
- 39.7% of non-casual employees across the overall public sector workforce took 5 days or less of personal leave (compared to 42.9% in 2024)
- 10.7% of non-casual employees across the overall public sector workforce took more than 20 days of personal leave (compared to 9.8% in 2024), which accounts for 37% of all leave taken
- 11.5 days per employee is the average time taken as personal leave across the overall public sector workforce (compared to 10.9 days per employee in 2024).
Personal leave
We define personal leave as paid sick or carer’s leave. Results from previous years don’t include additional leave taken under special COVID leave arrangements.
The average time taken by non-casual employees for personal leave (such as sick and carer’s leave) is a standard workforce measure.
We use it in the public sector to report on time lost to unscheduled absences.