The Dutch government will cut 25,000 jobs by 2030 as the country embraces artificial intelligence for efficiency in the workplace to save billions of dollars in personnel costs.
“We cannot keep doing what we have been doing…” Secretary Eric van der Burg said in a statement on Monday. “We must make significant cuts to organisational costs. That is why we are going to make tough choices for a central government that really works: simpler, smarter, and smaller.”
The Dutch central government aims to save €900 million ($1.2 billion or N1.3 trillion) by the end of 2027, hoping it will rise to €3.5 billion by 2035.
To achieve the target, about 25,000 jobs will be cut across several years, the government said.
Mr van der Burg said cabinet members would develop strategies and submit plans outlining how the government could leverage AI to reduce governance costs over the next decade.
The Netherlands said it had added 46,500 jobs to its central government workforce since 2018 but could no longer sustain the financial burden of paying the salaries, noting that “tough choices” had to be made.
