Workers worried about a 'looming recession' pick up more side hustles
Taylor Beal has a full time job in education and also works not one, not two, but three side hustles. In addition to being a property manager, Beal runs a travel blog, and also takes on gigs as a consultant for school curriculums.
“I would love to be able to step back from one of my side gigs at some point, but our costs keep going up, and our daycare, which is 30% of our take-home [pay], is about to go up as well,” said the 32-year-old from Townsend, Delaware.
Zach VanderGraaff, who works full-time as a digital marketer, echoes that sentiment. VanderGraaff, a tuba player by trade, works three side gigs and even takes on the occasional fourth giving private music lessons.
“I used to just have one gig that I did to pay off debt, but everything’s gotten so expensive, especially groceries, and we have three sons to feed," the 34-year-old from Midland, Michigan, said. "It’s just gotten tougher to make ends meet."
In today’s challenging environment, having one or two gigs may no longer be sufficient, said Dennis Consorte, a small business consultant and host of the SnackableSolutions podcast. “If I had to guess, I’d say somewhere between 10% and 15% of all American adults work two or more side hustles.”
A new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that 15% of workers have an independent contracting job after conducting a large-scale telephone survey. That's double previous estimates.
Forty-three-year-old Erik Allen, who works full time in sales, currently has seven side gigs — and is even willing to take on more. “I’m open to additional income streams."
One driver of this trend — beyond the ongoing inflationary pressures — is fear, said Consorte. “People are afraid of this looming recession. The natural response to this fear is to make more money.”
“Gigs give you instant money, and some financial stability, which is more important than ever these days given the volatility of the landscape,” said side hustler Shonnita Leslie of Houston, Texas. “I’m planning more wisely now for the unexpected.”
“People are also starting to realize that life is becoming more decentralized,” said Consorte. “Central offices are an antiquated way to work. People are continuing to work on a hybrid schedule and instead of relying on one employer, they’re taking on a number of different gigs.”
“The first bucket of side hustlers are those looking to leverage their skills and find offshoots of their careers,” said Mike ter Maat, a Libertarian economist. “The second bucket are those pursuing interests they have always had, and the third bucket of side hustlers are those taking on gigs that don’t require a specific skill set.”
Employers are having to adapt to this new reality, which has been rapidly accelerating since the pandemic, said Consorte. “There’s a cultural shift going on, and this shift toward multiple gigs is an indicator of what’s ahead as we get deeper into recession.”
“Side gigs are about to explode,” said Consorte. “Full-time jobs are dead.”
Personal finance journalist Vera Gibbons is a former staff writer for SmartMoney magazine and a former correspondent for Kiplinger's Personal Finance. Vera, who spent over a decade as an on-air financial analyst for MSNBC, currently serves as co-host of the weekly nonpolitical news podcast she founded, NoPo.
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