Labour, GroenLinks and Socialist MPs are calling on the government to increase the minimum wage for 18 to 22-year-olds because they don’t currently earn enough to live on.

The Netherlands is one of a handful of countries which does not give youngsters an entitlement to a full minimum wage at 18 but at 23. A Dutch 18-year-old with a full-time minimum wage job earns no more than €683.30 per month.

This means working youngsters ‘are having to appeal for special welfare benefits to survive’, the MPs say in an article in Friday’s Volkskrant.

Without government action, they will introduce legislation aimed at increasing the earnings of 18 to 22-year-olds, the MPs say.

On Thursday evening, social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher accepted a petition for changes in the minimum wage system signed by over 100,000 people. A 15-year-old currently earns €2.60 an hour. The adult minimum wage is €8.66 an hour.