{"id":255841,"date":"2025-07-11T09:39:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T09:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/255841\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T09:39:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T09:39:18","slug":"second-job-workers-at-an-all-time-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/255841\/","title":{"rendered":"Second-job workers at an all-time high"},"content":{"rendered":"

The number of workers taking second jobs is at its highest level since records began as workers feel the pinch of rising prices and job insecurity. <\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, one in six employees are struggling to pay their bills, and 43% have little or nothing left for savings or holidays at the end of each month.<\/p>\n

Only just under half of workers (48%) believe wage increases are keeping up with the cost of living, and 43% expect an above-inflation wage increase over the next 12 months.<\/p>\n

The Work Foundation looked at data from the Office for National Statistics, showing that 1.35 million workers now have second jobs. This has risen by 10% since last year, and is the highest since 1992 when records began.<\/p>\n

Older workers and low-paid employees were most worried about their income and less likely to feel supported by their employer, researchers found, and almost half (48%) are concerned about being laid off.<\/p>\n

Forty-two percent of workers earning less than \u00a325,000 said their pay kept up with the cost of living, versus almost three-quarters (73%) of those earning over \u00a360,000.<\/p>\n

Although the UK is experiencing the strongest period of sustained wage growth for over 20 years, pay increases are still not covering basic living costs for many, the Work Foundation said.<\/p>\n

Older workers were more likely to worry about the cost of living, with only 24% of 55 to 64-year-olds expecting an above-inflation pay rise this year.<\/p>\n

And while a third of workers are concerned about being made redundant in the next 12 months, this rose to 48% among younger workers (16 to 24).<\/p>\n

Ben Harrison, director of the Work Foundation, said: \u201cRaising living standards is not just about figures on a spreadsheet, it\u2019s about workers feeling more financially secure. Four years on from the start of the worst cost of living crisis in a generation, our analysis shows workers continue to feel the impact of nearly 20 years of stagnating pay packets.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecond jobs are sometimes glamorised as \u2018side hustles\u2019 or optional extras but economic necessity is often a key motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the trend reflected that many workers are not earning enough in their main roles to make ends meet, and called upon employers and government to \u201cstep in to support workers\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cPrices may not be rising at such rapid rates now, but these survey results reveal many workers continue to struggle with day to day costs, and have fears for their financial future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government has prioritised increases to the National Living Wage and set out an ambitious agenda to strengthen workers\u2019 rights and make work pay.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut with many reforms to boost access to better paid and more secure work still years from implementation, there is a real risk that change comes too late for those struggling today.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Browse all comp and benefits jobs<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number of workers taking second jobs is at its highest level since records began as workers feel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3092],"tags":[51,897,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-255841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-jobs","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114833939698909336","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}