Workers look to second jobs
Rather than wait for a break in the recession, many people are getting debt relief to find debt relief. More households are resorting to moonlighting to ease the strain of unemployment, expenses, wage cuts and layoffs. The unemployment rate as 10.2% in October, and full time employees average 33 hours a week, a record low. It’s estimated that 7.5 million people now hold multiple jobs.
14-hour work days
Kelli Conway, a graduate of University of Louisiana, works as a junior publicist by day and a restaurant hostess by night. Her typical workday is 10 am to 4 pm, then 5 pm to 11pm. She told her daytime boss about her second job when she was hired. “The founder of the company was great about it from the get-go,” she said, “he completely understood that I need two jobs to be able to survive in the city.”
Depressing survey statistics
In a recent Yahoo! Survey, almost 15% of respondents had taken a second job because of the recession. The survey also found upwards of 30% of workers felt “less satisfied in their jobs” than a year ago, and 68% don’t make as much as they’d like to. The revealing statistic is that 42% were concerned about job security and worried they would soon be targets of layoffs or furloughs.
Second-job remorse
Experts warn that people should be careful about taking on second job. Andrea Kay, a career consultant in Cincinnati, said, “If the second job detracts from time with your family, will you be creating new problems in your life? Who do you need to have a conversation with about that? How will it affect your health? People can get easily overwhelmed when they take on second roles.”
There are also financial issues to consider in taking on a second job. Commuting, daycare, taxes on extra income, and necessary equipment purchases add up. For instance, some call centers employ people from home at about $ 8 an hour, but they must pay for their own landline, a $ 25 to $ 30 monthly expense. Employees that have small children might need some sort of child care, like babysitting, to handle the kids while they answer calls. If people take on second jobs to find debt relief, they need to be aware of the additional costs, and be sure the net gain is worth it.
What is the motivation?
Career counselors caution that if extra funds are the sole motivation for getting a second job, other options might be worth exploring first. Kay thinks it could be more advantageous to look for ways to incrase pay at a first job: “Is there something you can do on the side — education, training — that would enhance your value so you’ll be paid more at your current job or at another one? Or maybe help you towards your future goals?” Like many experts, Kay believes people should figure out what they’d like to learn and what gets them excited as a part of their career goals, rather than simply running after more money.
Focus on building a better career
The bottom line is that consumers should do what they need to do to handle their budgets wisely. A second job can be a healthy alternative if strategized the right way, but there are other options to handling debt relief. It may be wiser to increase marketability and education because this is the kind of action that will contribute to bettering careers, rather than just temporarily bringing in extra cash.