| Abstract |
At the end of 2002, three-quarters of Dutch employees were covered by collective agreements containing childcare arrangements. However, in 2003, in anticipation of new childcare provision legislation due to come into force in 2005, employers are cutting back the proportion of childcare costs that they meet under such agreements. At the same time, the cost of childcare is increasing as market forces take hold in the childcare sector and labour costs rise because of the abolition of state-subsidised employment and wage increases for regular staff.
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