The jobs of more than 150 Australian Bureau of Statistics public servants are to be axed as the cash-strapped bureau struggles to balance its shrinking budget.

Workers at the bureau, which finished the past financial year more than $36 million in the red, were told on Friday morning that management will be looking to get up to 150 employees to accept voluntary redundancies in a process that is to begin immediately.

Chief Statistician David Kalisch. Credit:Andrew Meares

The job cuts are the latest in a string of bad news stories for the Bureau which is still dealing with the fall-out from August's dramatic Census debacle and ongoing financial strife.

The axe is falling just weeks after Chief Statistician David Kalisch said data collection on foreign ownership of agricultural businesses, industrial disputes, motor vehicle sales, livestock slaughter, and crime offenders and victims, could all stop because of the financial pressures the bureau faced.