Netherlands plans to cut 25,000 civil-service jobs, targeting $4B in savings
What's the deal? The Netherlands plans to cut about 25,000 full-time civil-service jobs by 2035 — roughly 15% of its central-government workforce — as it pushes to run a smaller government with more AI. State secretary Eric van der Burg announced the plan on October 26, 2026 in a letter to MPs.
Why now? The cuts follow four years of fast growth: central government employed 157,019 full-time equivalents in 2024, up about a quarter from 125,446 in 2020. The cabinet must save €900m in 2027, rising to €3.5bn (about $4bn) a year from 2035.
What's the endgame? Van der Burg wants a "simpler, smarter and smaller government," with one workplace for every two civil servants over time. Because most civil servants work in delivery, much of the target will fall on delivery agencies; the police and armed forces are exempt.
The policy dimension: The cabinet also plans to scrap or simplify at least 500 rules a year, split between citizens and entrepreneurs. It will review the Wet open overheid, the Dutch freedom of information law, so it needs fewer staff to run, with details due in 2027.
What could go wrong? The AI savings remain ambitions, not proven outcomes: the cabinet will only present goals and plans for AI use in the first quarter of 2027. The split by ministry comes in the spring fiscal update, in about six months.
The signal: The plan is an unusually large test of whether AI can shrink government, watched well beyond the Netherlands. But with the OECD finding many public-sector AI projects still stuck at the pilot stage — and past Dutch staffing cuts followed by renewed hiring — delivery, not the headline number, will decide whether it works.
