Only three in 100 workers have second jobs, though it’s ‘rampant’ among MPs
ONLY three in 100 workers across Leicestershire have a second job, figures reveal, as MPs continue to face scrutiny over their work outside Parliament.
The Resolution Foundation said having a second job is rare in the UK, despite being “rampant” in Westminster – which it said may explain the public’s frustration about MPs’ “lucrative extra work”.
Around 15,400 people in Leicestershire had a second job in the year to June, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates.
But that’s just 3.0% of all those in employment – slightly lower than the UK average of 3.6%.
Westminster has been rocked in recent weeks by revelations over the often large sums of money some parliamentarians receive for doing extra work on top of their main jobs.
Consevative MP Sir Geoffrey Cox has been accused of breaking conduct rules after a video appeared to show him using his MP’s office to do outside legal work. Mr Cox has denied breaching standards.
Analysis suggests that Mr Cox – a practising barrister – has earned millions of pounds from private work since 2009.
The furore came after former Conservative minister Owen Paterson was recently found to have committed “serious breaches” of rules after lobbying on behalf of two firms, for which he earned £100,000 a year.
The Government initially tried to override the findings of the Commons Standards Committee on Mr Paterson’s conduct, but was forced into a U-turn after a backlash against the move.
The debate over MPs’ extra work has prompted concerns of potential conflicts of interest between the organisations paying them, and their duties to voters. Some critics simply feel that their day job should be enough to keep them busy.
The basic annual salary for an MP is £81,932, while the median annual pay before tax for a full-time employee in Leicestershire is £30,284, and £25,355 in Leicester.
The median is the middle of a range of values, which is used to avoid people on exceptionally high salaries skewing the average. Analysis of ONS data by the Resolution Foundation, which campaigns on living standards, found that the proportion of UK workers with second jobs has fallen slightly in recent decades. However, the research found there had been a slight rise during the pandemic, which the group said may be down to furloughed workers doing additional work. Adam Corlett, principal economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “While second jobs are rampant in Westminster, they’re extremely rare across the rest of the country, with fewer than onein-25 workers currently having an additional job on the side.
“Some workers tend to turn to second jobs when economic conditions worsen, and around onein-seven workers who were furloughed this summer say they were also working in an additional job. But second jobs have never been a significant part of working life in Britain, which may help explain why the public have limited sympathy for parliamentarians’ lucrative extra work.”
Asked about the sleaze allegations at a press conference, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he believed the UK was “not remotely a corrupt country”, but added that MPs who break the rules “should be punished”.
In response, Labour’s deputy Leader Angela Rayner said the PM’s refusal to apologise showed he “doesn’t care” about tackling alleged corruption.
She added: “He thinks it’s one rule for him and another rule for everyone else.”
Some workers tend to turn to second jobs when economic conditions worsen, and around one-in-seven workers who were furloughed this summer say they were also working in an additional job.