Multiple jobholder rates are the highest they’ve been since the Great Recession
5.4% of American adults were juggling more than one job last month — the highest share in over 15 years.
For more and more US adults in the current economy, it seems like one job is just no longer enough.
According to Friday’s job report, the number of multiple jobholders in the US surged to a record 8.9 million in February, the highest since data tracking began in 1994. That’s 5.4% of all employed workers — a level last seen in April 2009.
What’s driving the surge?
For starters, a single paycheck isn’t cutting it anymore: inflation has driven up the cost of everything, from groceries to rent to credit card bills, pushing more Americans to seek extra income. In addition, college degrees (even MBAs) no longer provide a straightforward route to an almost guaranteed steady job and salary, resulting in an increasing number of grads taking on multiple positions to get by. Per the St. Louis Fed, college graduates now make up about half of the multi-job workforce in the US, up from ~31% at the start of 1994.
Beyond the people who need more than two jobs, however, is a growing pool of side-hustlers, capitalizing on how it’s become a little easier to pick up some extra work. The rise of remote work and gig platforms have enabled full-time workers to clock in for second jobs at night or on weekends, according to The Wall Street Journal.
While Fed Chair Jerome Powell recently described the labor market as “solid and broadly in balance,” a record number of Americans trying to hold down more than one job is, to some, a cause for concern — especially with President Trump yesterday refusing to rule out an incoming recession and forecasting a “period of transition” ahead as he looks to reshape America’s economy.
