NEW Zealand’s Government will lay off nearly 9,000 workers, amounting to 14 per cent of public sector jobs, by mid-2029 as part of a bid to slash billions in spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said on Tuesday. Willis said her administration would also enact three consecutive years of budget cuts for most public agencies, “significantly reduce” the number of departments, and demand faster uptake of AI technology across the sector. The cutbacks would save 2.4 billion New Zealand dollars (USD 1.4 billion) during that period, the minister told a business audience in New Zealand’s biggest city, Auckland. Many public servants live and work in the capital city, Wellington. Their numbers would be cut to 55,000, a drop of 8,700 from December 2025 figures, Willis said.

 

That would reduce the number of public servants to 1 per cent of New Zealand’s population of 5.3 million people, she added, down from 1.2 per cent. “That’s unsustainable, it’s unaffordable, and it’s out of step with international trends,” she said on Tuesday. The military, teachers and doctors would be among those exempt from the job losses, Willis said. The measures would also reduce number of Government departments and agencies from the current 39 to an unspecified figure. The layoffs won’t happen right away, however, and Willis didn’t detail a plan for deciding who would lose their jobs. Her Government, in power since 2023 and campaigned then on downsizing the public sector, faces a fresh election in November.