- 33% of 18 to 24 year olds have a second job
- A third of them say they need two jobs to survive financially
- Freelance and bar work the most popular second job options
New research* conducted on behalf of budgeting account provider thinkmoney.co.uk has found that a third (33%) of 18 to 24-year-olds have a second job, and a third of these (33%) said they need the second job to survive financially.
It isn’t just the younger generation who work two jobs though – overall, one in six (17%) adults in the UK are working a second job, and many of these are doing so in order to get by financially.
Of those with second jobs, more than one in three (34%) do so because they couldn’t survive financially without it. A further half of people who take a second job (51%) said they did so to give themselves additional spending money.
According to the research for thinkmoney, the most popular second jobs are:
| Second jobs | % of people with 2nd jobs |
| Freelance | 16.8% |
| Bar work | 15.9% |
| Admin | 13.8% |
| Retail | 13.5% |
| Cleaning | 12.6% |
| Deliveries | 5.6% |
| Working in a restaurant/café as a waiter/chef | 3.8% |
| Child minding | 2.4% |
| Other | 15.6% |
Freelancing as a second career was particularly popular among men; with 19% of male respondents with a second job saying this provides them with an additional income, compared to 15% of women. It was also a more popular choice among older generations, with a third (33%) of people aged 45 to 54 with a second job and a quarter (23%) of over-55-year-olds saying this is their additional line of work, compared to just one in ten (11%) 25 to 34-year-olds. This may be because older workers are able to use the fruits of a long career to generate extra money, unlike their younger counterparts.
Ian Williams, spokesman for thinkmoney, says:
“Despite the recent uptick in real wages and the falling cost of food and fuel, there’s no doubt many people still find that there is quite a lot of the month left at the end of the money. This is especially true for young people – a third of whom have more than one job, either because they couldn’t survive financially without it, or just to make their financial situation a bit easier.
“Whilst extra income is always welcome, working all hours can put a real strain on health, family and relationships.”
Charles Staples is an editorial assistant at HRreview.
