Unions NSW has released the findings of its NSW Public Sector Survey Report, Crossing State Lines: Why Workers are Leaving NSW. The survey was open to all Public Sector workers from 14 July 2024 until 4 August 2024, and garnered 7028 responses.

The findings of the report are stark. Despite NSW’s essential workers being lauded for carrying the state through the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, the rhetoric has not translated to better wages or conditions for workers providing public services. Instead, public servants in NSW have said they are seriously considering leaving the state to work elsewhere in Australia, particularly Queensland, at a rate of 42 per cent – up from 27 per cent in 2022.

Other key findings are that wages are not keeping up with the growing cost of living; understaffing is persistent; and retention of workers is not taken seriously. In the areas where staff are staying in their jobs it has proven to be due to the negotiation of better wages and working conditions; and, unless improvements across the whole of the Public Sector can happen, NSW risks losing essential workers to other states. 

The report summarises that the key to addressing the essential-worker bleed is that government needs to act as a matter of urgency to ensure the retention of talent in NSW. Unions NSW recommends the adoption of strategies like those successfully implemented in the education and transport sectors. These two clusters achieved higher pay rises than other public sector workers, along with improvements in working conditions and better employee support.

PSA CPSU NSW General Secretary Stewart Little attended the launch (above left) of the report, which is available at the Unions NSW website: www.unionsnsw.org.au