There has been much recent discussion about the changing nature of work and whether or not workers are increasingly taking on multiple jobs to piece together a decent living. A recent posting on the Dismal Scientist blog noted that the share of workers holding multiple jobs has been declining since 1994 (the earliest date for which the series is available) and is currently at a 20-year low. While it is evident that the overall rate of workers holding multiple jobs has decreased, a disparity emerges when this data is broken out by gender—namely, that working multiple jobs is something more prevalent among women, and young women in particular.
* Rates for 2015 are the average of January–June 2015. Bureau of Labor StatisticsWomen are More Likely to Work Multiple Jobs than Men: Multiple Job Holders as a Percent of Employed by Sex & Age, 1994–2015*
Men, 20-24
Men, 25-54
Women, 20-24
Women, 25-54
1994
6.3%
6.2
7.6
6.0
1995
6.1
6.6
7.3
6.3
1996
6.1
6.5
7.4
6.4
1997
5.9
6.5
7.3
6.4
1998
5.5
6.3
7.2
6.3
1999
5.1
6.1
6.7
6.1
2000
4.7
5.8
6.5
5.8
2001
4.8
5.5
6.3
5.6
2002
4.8
5.4
6.4
5.7
2003
5.0
5.3
6.7
5.6
2004
5.2
5.3
6.5
5.7
2005
5.1
5.2
6.5
5.7
2006
4.6
5.1
6.7
5.7
2007
4.2
5.1
6.5
5.7
2008
4.6
5.1
6.5
5.7
2009
4.7
5.0
6.4
5.8
2010
4.5
4.7
6.5
5.5
2011
4.3
4.7
6.5
5.4
2012
4.3
4.7
6.6
5.2
2013
4.7
4.7
7.0
5.2
2014
4.8
4.6
6.9
5.3
2015
4.6
4.5
6.7
5.3
As the figure above shows, though the rate of young (ages 20-24) and prime-age (ages 25-54) working men holding multiple jobs fell from 1994 to 2015, the rates for young and prime-age women remained relatively flat after 2001. As a result, greater gender differences in multiple job holdings have emerged both for young and prime-age workers since then. (The numbers for 2015 are only an average of the first six months of the year and don’t include the latter half of the year when more people hold multiple jobs as seasonal employment increases.) Though the perception is that the increase in multiple job holdings is happening most among millennials, working multiple jobs has never been a phenomenon observed among all young workers. Throughout the entire two-decade period, young men have been far less likely to hold multiple jobs than young women, and, as noted above, multiple job holdings are near 20-year lows for all groups.
