Government

Government ministries and agencies design and implement policy that affects the entire economy and society. They collect taxes, allocate public spending, and set the rules that other sectors operate within. The quality of those decisions depends heavily on the quality of the analysis behind them, which is why quantitative roles exist across most ministries.

The daily work involves analysing economic and social data, building models to forecast the effects of policy changes, and writing briefings or reports for decision-makers. The output is often internal, feeding into cabinet decisions, budget plans, or legislative proposals. Writing clearly for a non-technical audience is essential, since ministers and senior officials are not always statisticians.

The main tools are R, Python, Stata, and Excel. The CBS provides much of the statistical data that government analysts work with. Knowledge of public finance, labour economics, or social policy is relevant depending on the ministry. Familiarity with the Dutch budget process and policy cycle is useful context.

The work environment is structured and politically sensitive. Analyses need to be robust and defensible, since they may be scrutinised publicly. In the Netherlands, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy are among the larger employers of quantitative analysts. The sector connects closely to Research Institutes and Regulators, and roles here overlap with Policy Analyst and Economic Researcher roles.