Financial need, flexibility fuel rise in those having 2 or more employers
December 19, 2004
Making pepperoni pizzas and serving up hot dogs at the food counter in a Target store isn't even a slice of Zola Price's career dreams.
But it's her job -- her second job -- to make ends meet.
Price also works about 20 hours a week for Research Triangle Institute, making house calls to conduct random surveys.
Later this month, she will take on her third job, as a full-time claims rep at Safeco, an insurance company.
"I've never made enough money on one job to just have one job," said the 51-year-old Westside resident. "I like nice things, and I want a lot out of life. So I'm a worker. That's just what I do."
Being a worker and then working some more is becoming a way of life for millions of Americans.
Bleak job growth and minimal pay increases the past several years have forced America's workers to opt for that moonlighting position.
Last year, 7.3 million U.S. workers held multiple jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This year, that is projected to rise to 7.5 million after the number hit a 10-year high of 8 million in October. Many of them live in Indiana. The state ranks 20th in the nation for workers holding multiple jobs -- 6.1 percent of the work force.
In most cases, multiple job holders are married and 25 to 54 years old. Most often, their multiple jobs include one primary full-time job with a secondary part-time job. The growth may slow in 2005, as an improving economy creates more full-time jobs, experts say.
If they look for something better, it can be hard to find. Hiring signs that are up often are for part-time work or jobs with small paychecks.
"The menial jobs that seem to be so abundant seldom are full time and don't have benefits," said Joyce Duvall, executive director of Training Inc., a nonprofit agency in Indianapolis that teaches its enrollees the skills to become self-sufficient. "We have a lot of clients holding more than one job.
"These people's primary jobs are in customer service, food service or hotels and may have very sketchy schedules with little room for advancement," Duvall said. "Dead-end jobs don't support your family."
Price knows that. With no college degree, she has held multiple jobs all her adult life.
After a divorce about 20 years ago, she needed to support her two sons, now 27 and 33, so she began working feverishly.
Her three-job schedule will end after Christmas, when she resigns her position at Target. But with the Safeco and Research Triangle jobs, she expects to work at least 60 hours a week.
"I would try to work at all three of them if I could pull it off," said Price, who found her full-time Safeco job after graduating from Training Inc. "But I have to get my exercise in for my peace of mind."
Price is working toward retirement and for the financial means to buy a house or condominium. She still rents and is trying to pay off debt. Her dream is to have a full-time job with benefits so she can work just one place.
"Most people working multiple jobs say the reason they do it is to earn extra money," said Emy Sok, economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "The second reason is to meet expenses or pay off debt."
Other less common reasons are that people actually enjoy the work or they are looking for experience for a different job, Sok said.
Courtney Bullock, 26, is not only making ends meet, but trying to gain experience for a full-time job.
"The job market, it basically sucks," said Bullock, who works two telemarketing positions, one at Stone Research Services and the other for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. "You have to search and scrape for a job paying $10 an hour."
Bullock, who rents an apartment in Downtown Indianapolis, has worked several jobs since his 2001 graduation from Ball State University.
He said he just can't find that full-time position that he can survive on.
He went to Goodwill of Central Indiana for help in finding a second job. He is grateful for both, but neither offers benefits.
Goodwill said its ultimate goal would be to have Bullock find full-time work. Multiple jobs shouldn't be a long-term solution, said Cindy Graham, vice president of marketing for Goodwill.
"The reason for most multiple-job holding is that the general wages of the first job don't support them, or a lot of times it's benefits-driven," she said.
Graham concedes her organization doesn't shy away from temporary multiple-job holding if it fits the need of the individual.
"Sometimes, it's a way to get your feet in the door," she said.
In most cases, holding a second or third job isn't something people choose to do, though 17 percent of Americans say they have a second job because they enjoy it, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"Many of us have skills that we're not able to use in our full-time or primary job that we'd like to keep sharp," said Gale Blalock, professor of economics at the University of Evansville.
"So people oftentimes find these moonlighting or part-time positions in the evening or over the weekends that let them exploit some skill or passion they have."
Johanna McWhirter, 32, has found a way to mesh several of her skills into a three-job lifestyle.
She starts her mornings at Building Blocks Childcare on the Southside and works four to five hours. Then, depending on the day, she may head off to Greenwood Park Mall to take pictures at The Picture People for another four to five hours.
On weekends, she's the music director for the contemporary service at Southport Christian Church.
"I didn't really want to have a full-time job because I wanted to be able to spend time with my kids," said McWhirter, the mother of two boys, ages 3 and 5 months. She can take the kids with her to her day-care job and to church, if she needs to. She works 40 to 50 hours a week, but said it's not like a full-time responsibility.
"I could basically get full-time (work) if I wanted to," said McWhirter, who has a bachelor's degree from California State University, Northridge. "But I like having the flexibility. If I want a day off, I can take it. It's a lot more flexible than having a 9-to-5 bank job."
Flexibility is key in the workplace, whether it's doing what McWhirter is doing or working with a full-time employer to meet your needs, said Mark McNulty, president of HR Dimensions, a human resource consulting firm in Indianapolis.
"We don't see people holding multiple jobs so much for the flexibility as for financial reasons," he said. "But we do see that employers are much more attuned to meeting the needs of their workers than they were even five years ago."
The recent upswing in multiple-job holding may be for several reasons, according to Blalock. One may be as simple as the holidays.
"Certainly as we approach this spending season this Christmas, there is reason for people to search out these second jobs," he said.
"We will not be surprised to see the number of multiple-job holders decline in January or February after some of the bills come due."
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