The spending gap between single and dual income families widened considerably between 2006 and 2016, the national statistics office CBS said on Wednesday.

The disposable income of single salary households went down, while dual earning families now have more to spend, the CBS said.

Between 2006 and 2011, the average disposable income of dual salary families rose 1.5% while single salary family incomes fell 2%. But the increase was most marked in the second five-year period, when dual salary families had 5% more to spend and single income families lost a further 1%.

The switch is due to deliberate government policy to encourage more women to go out to work and to end the so-called ‘kitchen sink’ tax breaks which benefited women who did not work.

And according to figures from the government’s macro-economic think-tank CPB, this has had an effect. In 2006 there were three times as many dual income and single income families, but by 2016, dual salary families outstripped the others by four to one.

In total in 2016, in 2.3 million couples both partners worked while 610,000 families relied on one income.

The CBS research also showed 15% of single income families had financial problems, twice as high as percentage among families with two incomes.

The current four-party coalition includes two Christian parties – the CDA and ChristenUnie – both of which are keen to see more support for single income households.