The number of young adults claiming basic welfare benefits rose 8% over the year to end-March, reaching 39,000, national statistics agency CBS said on Friday.

It was the fifth quarter in a row that more youngsters up to the age of 27 had been claiming the benefit.

CBS chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen said that young adults are more likely to claim welfare (bijstand) than unemployment benefit (ww) if they lose their jobs because they have not built up enough time in work to qualify.

The increase in claims is much higher than among other age groups, and there was no increase at all in claims by the over-45s.

Last quarter, 403,000 people in the Netherlands were claiming welfare benefit, despite the tightness on the jobs market. That is a rise of 1% on a year ago.