15000 Civil Jobs Lost

Until 2018 about 15 thousand of the 150 thousand jobs in the Civil Service will be lost. In total, the government wants to reduce the expenditure of the central government, with almost a quarter, to 13 billion euros. This is part of the ‘National Reform Agenda’ that the responsible Minister, Stef Blok (VVD) sent on Wednesday to the House.

Together with cuts on housing en by working more efficiently, the reduction of the number of jobs, from 2010 till 2018, must save 4.2 billion euro. The Centraal Planbureau (CPB) and the Algemene Rekenkamer, however, have been very critical about those plans. According to Blok, they are a logic response to the worsened economic situation.

The Algemene Rekenkamer says that Blok can not have a good overview on his plans. He can’t support his plans with good arguments

The independent accountant of the Government, the CPB, warns Blok that he must not count himself rich. In addition to the cuts of previous governments, Rutte II would save over 1.1 billion on the Civil Services. According to the CPB the maximum possible savings is, however, 900 million. And only if all goes well and civil servants do exactly what the politics instructs them. In any case, such an operation leads to fewer services, says the CPB.