A increasing number of Americans are taking on second jobs to make ends meet as U.S. inflation outpaces worker pay.
Many individuals have already cut back on their spending where they can, and some have even used their personal savings to pay for rising prices for things like food, gas, rent, and other essentials. Nevertheless, millions more households are being negatively impacted by the biggest inflation in 40 years. According to a recent poll, 75% of middle-class Americans claim that their salary is insufficient to cover their living expenses.
“At the end of the day, there are only so many credit cards you can load up and things you can avoid spending on before you come to the reality that maybe you have to pick up a second job,” Columbia Business School professor Mark Cohen told CBS MoneyWatch. “It’s about how much do you bring in every month, how much do you spend — if you’re in a deficit position, you have to find another job or an additional job.”
According to data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve, as the pandemic broke out in the United States in 2020, 4% of those who were employed did so. That number had increased by almost a full percentage point by June of this year.
Even while fewer people now work multiple jobs, more Americans than ever before work two full-time jobs, or more than 70 hours per week, than ever before. Federal labor statistics show that in June, 426,000 workers had two full-time jobs, up from 308,000 in February 2020.
Additionally, more employees are having financial difficulties. Experts point out that trend also indicates the solid work possibilities and healthy labor market in the United States.
“Historically, the share of workers with multiple jobs goes up when the labor market is strong and goes down when the labor market is weak,” said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. “It’s basically a question of job availability. We are seeing this increase in multiple job holdings as the labor market has strengthened.”
“No time to play around”
One such person who holds down two jobs is Cristen Murphy from Rockford, Illinois. The 29-year-old runs Murphy’s Portable Wash, a mobile vehicle washes and detailing firm, in addition to his full-time job as a sales representative for water delivery provider Hinckley Springs.
Murphy told CBS MoneyWatch, “I just do it on the weekends for additional cash to help pay expenses.
He is able to control his expenditure for the most part. I eat bread sandwiches, I’m a really simple man,” he stated. The additional job enables him to pay expenses like an increased power bill and rising gas rates.
Murphy has been forced to be extremely structured by working two jobs. There is no time to waste, he declared.