There was a slight drop in the number of working parents with young children in the first three months of this year, social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher told parliament on Tuesday.

The participation rate among young parents has dropped from 71.5% to 70.4%, the new ministry figures show.

The sharpest reduction was recorded in the number of single mothers who work, which fell from 63% to 60.9%. The number of working fathers with children under the age of 12 fell by two percentage points to 91.2%.

By contrast, the participation rate for all women is down 0.7% and for men down 1.6%.

The minister did not speculate on the reason for the sharper decline under working parents, but opposition MPs were quick to point to cuts in help with paying for daycare, news agency ANP reported.

‘MPs have warned repeatedly that the cuts in childcare spending would have a knock-on effect on the number of young working parents,’ Christian Democrat MP Pieter Heerma said.