Netherlands plans to cut 25,000 civil service jobs

The Dutch government, through the Ministerial Taskforce for an Efficient Government, aims to reduce the national civil service workforce by an estimated 25,000 full-time positions over the next decade. State Secretary Eric van der Burg announced that this reduction represents approximately 16 percent of the current civil service size.

The plan seeks to address the 41 percent growth in the national government workforce seen since 2018. Van der Burg noted that policy-making roles grew by 56 percent during this period, while operational roles increased by 28 percent. The initiative intends to achieve these cuts through natural attrition, freezing vacancies, and eliminating open positions, though forced redundancies have not been ruled out.

Beyond personnel cuts, the government aims to save 3.5 billion euros by simplifying regulations and reducing the influence of advisory boards. The strategy includes implementing a Simplification Act to scrap at least 500 existing rules, aiming to create a more productive and digitally integrated administration that functions as a single point of contact for citizens and businesses.