It’s Not Just U.S. Companies Cutting Jobs With AI, the Dutch Government Is Too
You can’t go more than a few days without a headline about a U.S. company cutting headcount as it leans into AI. Look no further than Microsoft ($MSFT) offering voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, more than a quarter of its roughly 223,000-person workforce, as it reins in costs amid soaring AI spending (Reuters). But it appears the AI efficiency push is reaching far and wide.
In that regard, the Dutch government plans to cut about 25,000 civil service jobs in an AI-led efficiency drive, per Bloomberg, citing a government statement on Monday, October 26. That’s roughly 15% of its central government workforce and more than half of its hiring since 2018. Central government staffing rose 41%, from 113,533 full-time equivalents at the end of 2018 to 160,016 at the end of 2025, according to the Interior Ministry’s annual operations report. Removing 25,000 would bring it back to about 135,000, between its 2021 and 2022 levels.
The cabinet is targeting savings of €900 million a year by 2027, rising to €3.5 billion ($3.9 billion) a year from 2035. The reductions will be spread over several years, and police and defense are exempt. Ministries, inspectorates and implementing agencies will be hit hardest, with some departments facing cuts of 45% or even 60%, according to a letter State Secretary Eric van der Burg sent to parliament. The cabinet will present goals and savings plans for using AI in the first quarter of 2027.
“We cannot keep doing what we have been doing,” Van der Burg said.
It should be said, though, that the Netherlands isn’t the first European government to go this route. The U.K. said in March 2025 that it would cut more than 10,000 civil service jobs as part of a push toward digital tools and AI, Bloomberg reported.
In the U.S., AI is the leading reason employers have cited for announced job cuts this year. AI accounted for 120,136 of the 573,195 announced job cuts through September, or about 21%, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, and I have a feeling that share is going to be much higher when we get the October report next week.