Almost 1 million Australians are working at least two jobs as cost-of-living pressures bite
Almost 1 million Australians are working at least two jobs as many workers struggle to meet cost-of-living pressures amid rising underemployment.
The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released on Friday show 970,700 people held multiple jobs in December 2023, up from 957,100 three months earlier.
The share of workers in multiple jobs swung between 5% and 6% of the workforce before 2020, but had stabilised at about 6.7% over the last year.
The increased proportion represented an extra 100,000 workers taking on multiple jobs compared to the pre-pandemic level, as they grappled with higher interest rates and inflation.
People in financial difficulty commonly resort to taking on extra jobs, according to the acting financial counselling director for the Consumer Action Law Centre, Claire Tacon.
Inquiries to the centre’s National Debt Helpline had surged as financial difficulties had forced people to search for new sources of income, she said.
“Financial counsellors will often suggest people take a look at increasing their income … and it’s something that people have already considered or are doing.”
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Almost one in three Australians want to take on extra work in 2024, according to the financial comparison site Finder. Research by Insights Exchange says that share rises to one in two in the 18-24- and 35-44-year-old age groups.
While rising living costs had forced people to look for extra jobs, their search had been helped by high post-pandemic spending and high job vacancies, according to the University of Melbourne economist Jeff Borland.
“When the labour market strengthens, there’s more jobs available, so there’s this opportunity for people who want more hours to take on an extra job,” he said.
But as spending and job creation slow, Australians would soon have fewer opportunities to take on extra work.
Job advertisements began to fall in February after picking up towards the end of last year, according to ANZ and Indeed.
The total number of hours worked had continued to fall, the ABS reported on Friday, while underemployment had crept upwards to 6.6% in January this year, from a low of 4.6% in November 2022.
Additionally, once inflation recedes and interest rate cuts arrive, the need for extra work should decline.
“When you take those cyclical forces and inflation away, there’s the potential for multiple job holding to come back down to where it was before,” Borland said.
Tacon agreed that any potential ease in living cost pressures would allow Australians to stop working multiple jobs.
“Interest rates going down would make a massive difference. That’s what’s made us so busy,” she said.
But the Centre for Future Work policy director, Fiona Macdonald, said multiple job holding would persist due to Australia’s dependence on flexible, part-time work.
“Employers have increasingly had the ability to recruit and roster people according to peak periods … which leaves part-time and casual workers with quite a few gaps,” she said.
One in five part-time workers in Australia were underemployed last year, the same as in 2022, suggesting there is persistent pressure to take on extra hours.
“It’s more likely that multiple job holding will continue to be as high as it is or higher, as long as part-time and casual work are high,” Macdonald said.