Number of stay-at-home carers drops by one third in 10 years

Photo: Depositphotos.com
Photo: Depositphotos.com

The number of full-time carers and stay-at-home parents in the Netherlands has fallen by almost one third since 2008, the national statistics agency CBS said on Tuesday.

In 2008, some 313,000 people – 97% women – said they were full time carers, but last year the total had fallen to 223,000. Some 6% of carers are now men.

Another, smaller group of the potential working population say they would like to work but don’t because they find it too tough to combine work and care duties or cannot find appropriate childcare.

Some 20,000 people – 86% women – with children up to the age of 13 are in this position, the CBS said.

People who do not have a college or university degree are more likely to say school hours make it impossible to combine work with raising a family or other care duties.

By contrast, people with degrees blame the lack of affordable and appropriate child care or the pressure of combining caring with work for not taking a paid job, the CBS said.

Work less

Research published by the CBS in June showed some 7% of working people in the Netherlands would like to cut their hours while 9% would like to work more.

In particular, women who work full time would like to work less, the CBS said.

In total, 74% of Dutch women work part time, compared with an an EU average of 31%. But in terms of spending time taking care of children, parents in the Netherlands spent a similar amount of time as elsewhere in Europe.

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