More than 775,000 Dutch people do not have enough money to go on holiday for a week. That is about 40 percent of the low-income people in our country. This is reported by the European trade union umbrella organization ETUC on the basis of research. The union of trade unions is calling for a higher minimum wage to combat the problem.
“Holidays should not be a luxury for a few”, comments Etuc top woman Esther Lynch in the AD. “While many employees go out to spend time with friends and family, that is not possible for millions due to low incomes. The increase in holiday inequality (in the last ten years in as many as 16 of the 27 member states, Etuc said) proves once again how unequally the benefits of economic growth have been distributed in Europe over the past ten years.”
Across the EU, 28 percent of people don’t have enough money to take a week away, according to ETUC. Among low-income people, this would rise to nearly 60 percent of the population. In Romania, Greece and Croatia, almost 90 percent of low-income people cannot go on holiday.
Low income
Low income is when someone earns less than 60 percent of the average income. That is the middle amount if all incomes are sorted from lowest to highest. According to the CBS, the average income for Dutch employees in 2017 was more than 35,000 euros per year.
ETUC points out that people with a low income are more likely to be unable to go on holiday for financial reasons than people with a higher income. The ‘holiday inequality’, as the umbrella organization calls it, is said to have increased in sixteen countries, including the Netherlands, in ten years’ time. That is unfair, according to ETUC, which is why the trade union umbrella has been working for some time to ensure that the minimum wage is increased in various EU countries. The European Parliament will discuss this after the summer.
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By: Editors
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