Margaret Henwood used to have a busy social life, going out with friends, playing softball on Sundays and visiting her nieces and nephews in Seattle, Port Huron and New Jersey.
Those days are only a happy memory now that she's taken on three jobs just to pay the bills. When she actually does have time to do anything but work, Henwood, who is in her 40s, said she's too tired to leave her house or talk to her friends.
"Well, you have no life and that's the hardest part," said Henwood of Royal Oak.
Henwood's complaint is a familiar one among the more than 250,000 Michigan residents who are working two or more jobs. With decent-paying full-time jobs getting harder to find, more workers are holding down several to keep their homes and put food on the table.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 5.4 percent, or 253,800, of Michigan's 4.7 million employed workers had two or more jobs in 2005, the last year for which data is available. That's up from 5.2 percent in 2004 and before the full impact of the auto industry downsizing had hit Michigan's economy. Economists say the trend will continue as more high-paying manufacturing and white-collar jobs leave the state.
Although some multiple job holders say they are grateful for the money and the opportunity to learn new skills at work, the consequences of racing from one job to another all day long is taking its toll on their health, social life and family relationships.
Having too many jobs can cause fatigue, depression, irritability and loss of concentration, said Ellen Kossek, professor of human resources at Michigan State University. Multiple job holders often sacrifice spending time with significant others, their families and friends.
Consider alternatives
Roberta Babics, a behavioral health therapist at Catholic Social Services of Oakland, said she's working with "significantly more" clients who are having problems from stress brought on by working multiple jobs.
She advises underemployed workers to think of creative ways to cut down on spending money before taking on too many jobs.
"When you're trying to juggle too many jobs, eventually, you're going to crash," Babics said.
That's what happened to Necie Williams, 31, of Detroit who is working full time and trying to start her own business at home. Her health had deteriorated so badly her doctor told her to take two weeks off work last month.
Williams is a full-time accountant at a radio station and is trying to get her business, Platinum Elite Events, off the ground. The single mother of two gets home from the radio station at 6 p.m. and sometimes works until 1 a.m.
She was becoming forgetful and her anemia was out of control. Her relationship with her kids, 9 and 15, is suffering because she rarely sees them.
"I feel so tired and burnt out, it's unbelievable," Williams said.
Little time for family
Fatigue is a constant, too, for 48-year-old Victor Janis of Garden City. He has a full-time job as a plastics technician at an Ann Arbor laboratory, making $41,000 a year, but it isn't enough to pay the bills and provide for his wife and five kids, so he works a second job as a stock clerk at a Farmer Jack grocery store 24-40 hours a week, making $12.50 an hour.
Putting in 65-80 hours a week at work, Janis doesn't have time or energy to doing anything but sleep. He said he's always tired, unfocused, and forgetful and misses a lot of family activities.
"Ninety-five percent of the time, I'm not coherent," he said. "I sleep through a lot and I'm a crank. I wouldn't wish this on anyone."
Worker exodus to persist
Mike Magolan, a job training specialist at Michigan Works!, considers anyone with two jobs lucky. Magolan is working with 60 unemployed or underemployed individuals, many of which have been unsuccessfully looking for work for more than a year.
Full-time job opportunities in Metro Detroit are rare and the economy is unstable, he said. Simply having a job doesn't mean that it will be permanent, he noted.
And the situation will only get worse this year, said Robert Rossana, an economics professor at Wayne State University. The only bright spot is that some laid-off workers from the domestic auto companies will eventually leave the state and there will be fewer workers vying for jobs.
"My guess is (the worker migration) hasn't bottomed out yet," Rossana said.
Burden weighs on couple
Dean and Mary Ellen La Douceur of Troy are each working two jobs after Dean La Douceur left his job as a commercial mortgage leasing broker last year because he wasn't making money at it and enrollment at his wife's day care center dropped by two-thirds.
Dean La Douceur, 45, began operating his own business, Roundtable Promotions and Publicity, from home last year and works as a waiter at Papa Vino's Italian Kitchen three days a week, making an extra $200 a week. Mary Ellen La Douceur, 49, is helping her husband with his business and watches two children at Beautiful World Day Care.
Juggling two jobs and trying to balance work with family responsibilities hasn't been easy for the couple and their two children.
"You have days when you want to explode," Dean La Douceur said. "You feel like Atlas and the weight of the world is on your shoulders."
Numbers understated?
The percentage of multiple job holders, according to the Department of Labor statistics, has remained relatively stable over the past five years.
Economists question whether the number of two-job workers would be higher if you counted those who are doing consulting or trying to start a business from home, which isn't always included in the statistics.
Many full-time workers are doing consulting in addition to their regular jobs, said Brigitte Bechtold, an economist and instructor at Central Michigan University.
The small rate changes don't mean anything, Bechtold said. Any time more than 5 percent of the work force is working multiple jobs is "not a good situation."
"Unless drastic changes are made, I don't see this improving," Bechtold said. "We're going to keep seeing multiple job holders."
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