The Court of Auditors suggests cutting 100,000 jobs in local authorities to save 4.1 billion euros per year

Drastic savings. The Court of Auditors suggests a gradual elimination of 100,000 jobs in local authorities, out of the two million public agents who work there, in a report devoted to local finances in 2024 made public on Wednesday October 2. This 5.5% reduction in community jobs “would make it possible to achieve significant savings, estimated by the Court at 4.1 billion euros per year from 2030”write the financial magistrates at a time when France’s public deficit is expected to exceed 6% of gross domestic product in 2024.

“Personnel expenditure, which represents a quarter of community expenditure, is experiencing sustained growth”notes the Court of Auditors, commissioned in March by former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to think about ways to save money within local authorities. “While the workforce has increased significantly until recently, despite the absence of new transfers of skills, controlling their development is a central issue”she insists in a context where the new head of government Michel Barnier wants to reduce the public deficit to 5% of GDP in 2025.

While Emmanuel Macron planned in 2017 to eliminate 120,000 positions in the public service (which employs a total of 5.7 million agents), the President of the Republic went back on his promise after the health crisis and is now content to want to stabilize the workforce. Among other savings avenues, the Court of Auditors is pushing for “a broader application of legal working hours” of 1,607 hours annually in communities, which sometimes allows certain agents to work less hours to compensate for the arduousness of their job.