The full-time workers picking up second jobs to combat cost-of-living pressures

When Caitlin Pursell started full-time work three years ago, she didn’t imagine she would wind up taking on a second job.

As a manager at a fintech company, the 25-year-old earns a decent salary but the rising cost of rent, groceries and social outings led her to worry about her finances and capacity to save for a house.

Caitlin Pursell, 25, recently started picking up cafe shifts to supplement her income from her full-time fintech job. Credit:Jason South

In November, she decided to download Supp, an app that connects short-staffed hospitality venues with workers looking to pick up shifts.

Pursell, who worked at cafes while at university, has now done two-weekend shifts, with more scheduled in December.

“I’m someone who thinks about money constantly and … I’m trying to think of other ways to make life a bit easier,” she said.

“When I told friends they were in disbelief … I could very easily not do a shift, but I’d be far more anxious and stressed.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data released in September for the June 2022 quarter showed that 6.5 per cent of workers held more than one job, the highest this figure has been.

Dr Greg Jericho, policy director for the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, said he expected to see further rises in the next two quarters because cost-of-living pressures had increased since mid-year with inflation at 8 per cent, while wages growth was a sluggish 3 per cent.

“This is not an issue that is going to go away,” Jericho said.

“We’re seeing people trying to just pick up extra work at night or on the weekends because the costs they can’t avoid paying have increased and wages have yet to catch up.”

He said most people who had multiple jobs were part-time or low-paid workers, but financial pressures were increasingly hurting full-time workers.

“We’re seeing an increase in cost of living that we really haven’t experienced for 30 years,” he said. “That is going to hit everyone, regardless of what their income is.”

Supp app founder Jordan Murray said sign-ups of new workers had tripled since the start of the year to about 1000 per week and the main driver was the rising cost of living.

The platform now has 4000 venues in Australia, largely in Melbourne, and 40,000 workers, mostly Gen Z and Millennials who have another primary income source.

He said 90 per cent of people used the app to do one or two shifts per month.

“People who have worked in hospitality at some point in their life are continuing with their main pursuit while picking up the occasional extra shift,” he said.

But University of Melbourne professor Mark Wooden, of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, said Australia’s overall rise in workers with multiple jobs was so far small, noting the rate varied from 5.2 to 6.1 per cent between 1994 and 2019.

“It has picked up a bit, but in my opinion, the increase is just a fact of a strong labour market – there are lots of jobs out there,” Wooden said.

Wooden says increased demand for workers has meant the rate of under-employment has been reduced as many part-time workers can now find the extra work they previously wanted. He said this more likely explained why more people were now taking second jobs, noting that the proportion of Australians working long hours each week had not risen.

“People must have a lot of savings, Christmas is still going to do well,” he said.

Liam O’Brien, assistant secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions – which is advocating to expand bargaining laws – said too many workers were taking on second jobs to help make ends meet.

“What’s really concerning about the latest rise in people taking second jobs is it’s not unique to a particular demographic and it’s workers across all sectors,” O’Brien said.

Ashley Peng, 24, has worked full-time for a health company since 2021, and started picking up restaurant shifts on weeknights or weekends in August to help supplement her income because inflation and rising interest rates threatened her dream of home ownership.

Dozens of Peng’s friends and colleagues recently took on second jobs, she said.

“It’s less time spent with family and friends … but you need to sacrifice parts of your life,” Peng said.

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