The Dutch cabinet plans to drastically reduce the hiring of external personnel, including temporary workers, at its core departments, according to ZiPconomy. On the recent Budget Day, they announced that the total amount for external hiring must decrease by 81% within five years. At the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, the planned decrease is 90%.

External hiring includes costs for consultancy and ICT, for both secondment and self-employed hiring, as well as temporary workers. The percentage of total wage costs the central government spends on external personnel has been increasing for years. In 2023, this was 15.4%, higher than the target figure of 10%. The increase in external hiring is partly due to scarcity in the labour market and crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, among other factors. Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof’s cabinet for costs for permanent staff to be reduced by 22%.