The number of women working in the Netherlands is now at its highest since 2011. In keeping with the increase of women working, the number of children attending day care, after-school care or being looked after by a childminder has also grown.
According to figures from the Dutch tax office Netherlands (Belastingdienst) and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, the number of children in childcare in the second quarter of 2017 has risen by 56.000, compared to figures from the same quarter in 2016.
In the Netherlands, the economy is growing and in the past six months, many people, including many women, have become employed. The increase of children in day care can be attributed to this.
To accommodate for the multiplying number of children in need of day care facilities, another 638 centres have opened in the last six months, bringing the total to 7.643. The number of after-school care centres has also increased to 6.733, with 238 of these opening in the previous six months.
Despite the increase in the number of day care and after-school care facilities, the number of childminders is declining, and has been doing so the past few years. In the second quarter of 2017, the number of children attending day care reached 293.000, whilst another 341.000 went to after-school care and 121.000 were looked after by childminders.
Minister Lodewijk Asscher, from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, is pleased about the number of mothers working and the quality and affordability of the care institutions that the children are attending. He stated that children benefit from day care later on in life, as they develop their language skills and learn a lot through playing.