Money worries increasingly affecting young people in Netherlands

Six in ten young people are worried about the rise in prices in the past year, UNICEF Netherlands reported after surveying over 1,000 teenagers between the ages of 10 and 18. Young people up to the age of 21 who are on welfare benefits are also likely to suffer from long-term financial problems, the National Ombudsman also said on Monday.

According to UNICEF, one in five teenagers have money worries at home. That causes stress, frustration, anger, and sadness. One of the respondents said they couldn’t invite friends home “because that costs extra money for food and drinks.” Another said their family burns wood at home “to keep the heating off.”

The researchers found that 18 percent of teenagers with money worries are ashamed of it. “Young people are very well aware of what is going on. But if young people don’t talk abou the money worries they experience, it will impact their mental well-being and affect the extent to which they can participate in society,” said Suzall Laszlo, director of UNICEF Nederland.

The organization called on the national- and local governments to put children “at the center of tackling money problems and poverty.”

Because money problems can often prove impossible to escape. According to the National Ombudsman, young people up to age 21 who are on welfare often suffer from long-term financial problems. Young people receive a lower benefit because their parents are still responsible for some of their expenses, like living expenses or studies. If parents cannot supplement the benefit, municipalities must do so. But not all municipalities do so sufficiently, said National Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen.

Young people get a benefit of 258 euros per month, and adults get 1,046 euros per month. How much young people’s benefit is supplemented differs per municipality. Young people also run into bottlenecks in the legislation and regulations for their benefits, such as the mandatory four-week search period for work and training.

“I find it incomprehensible that young people with an urgent need for financial aid have to wait four weeks before being admitted to social assistance,” said Van Zutphen. “I call on the parties involved to no longer apply this mandatory search period. And to always supplement the benefit of young people without a parental safety net to the social minimum.” He also called the rules around working in addition to welfare benefits “unnecessarily complicated,” which makes finding work not always rewarding.

Young people also need fast, easy-to-understand information about social assistance. Municipalities focus mainly on finding work and not, for example, following a training course. “While a study can ensure that young people not only come out of social assistance but also don’t fall back into it again,” Van Zutphen said.