The deepening economic crisis of capitalism today forced the largest number of workers in years to take on two jobs to try to make ends meet in 2024. But some economists cynically try to argue that many of these are just “side hustles” or hobbies, and actually reflect that workers are doing great today.
“It’s pro-cyclical,” Dean Baker, a founding economist of the Center for Economic Policy Research, told the Washington Post Jan. 28. “You increase the number of multiple-job holders during good times.” People have “more flexible opportunities” to show their “entrepreneurial spirit,” Tessa Conroy, an associate economics professor at the University of Wisconsin, told the paper.
The Post highlights the example of Grace Wilbanks, who holds what she calls a “cushy corporate gig” at a credit union in Atlanta, and picks up extra income “pursuing her passion making collage art.” She sells it to friends, family and local businesses, charging thousands of dollars for some pieces!
But this has nothing to do with what millions of workers face every day, many living paycheck to paycheck as they struggle to cover the stifling costs of groceries, child care, rent and mounting credit card debts.
In December over 5% of all U.S. workers had more than one job. That’s nearly 8.5 million people. The percentage was even higher for women, at 6.1%, and 6.4% for Blacks. In some states, including Wisconsin, North Dakota and Hawaii, the percentage of workers with more than one job was around 10% last year. And this doesn’t count workers without proper papers or who work off the books.
Monique McClain, an Uber driver in Nashville, Tennessee, told the Post she also works shifts at a nearby warehouse and a job at a convention center in order to pay the rent on her one bedroom apartment. Over the past two years her rent has jumped from $800 to $1,100 a month.
“I sleep between each of the different assignments — a four-hour window here and there,” McClain, 42, said. Sometimes she works 60 to 80 hours a week. “I was recently put on medication for high blood pressure and heart problems. These jobs are hard on my body, but I have no choice.”
Fifty percent of workers forced to take on a second or third job today are employed in some of the lowest-paying jobs, including in health care, retail trade and hotel and food services.
More part-time workers
The fact is bosses reap bigger profits employing workers part time with less pay and benefits. In December the number of full-time workers increased by 87,000 while the number of part-time workers went up by 247,000. Part-time workers now make up 17.3% of the workforce.
“I don’t want to have to work two jobs to pay the bills,” Kirn Gill II, from Springfield, Missouri, said. He works for a Google contractor from his home for $14 an hour and then works as a salesman for Walmart’s wireless phones for $13.75 an hour. “With the cost of living going up,” he said, “it’s difficult to even stay in place. You’re being constantly dragged down.”
Laura Norman, an elementary school English teacher for non-native speakers in Baltimore, had to take on a second job working part time at a theater to get by, especially after she had a baby last year.
“I know very few teachers that don’t have a second gig — babysitting, nannying,” or something else, Norman told the Post. “I absolutely find it upsetting.”
Another graphic example of the squeeze on workers today is reflected in a 2023 poll by the Maryland State Education Association, which has 75,000 members. It reports 44% of the state’s public school teachers have to work more than one job to try to make ends meet.
“Wages and benefits for American workers see smallest gains in three years,” headlined a Jan. 31 MarketWatch article. It noted that in the fourth quarter of 2024 workers got the lowest year-over-year wage gains since the third quarter of 2021. This reflects the bosses’ relentless drive to reap more profits at the expense of working people.
So much for the fairytale that workers are taking on more jobs to have fun and to reap income from their hobbies. Under capitalism, millions of working people are forced to work two or three jobs to try to scrape by.