Moonlighting in a tough economy -- some new national data

Posted at 12:06 AM on June 24, 2009 by Paul Tosto (0 Comments)
Filed under: Jobs & unemployment

Caught this story today on the USA Today Web site: "Moonlighting's a way of life for workers in tough job market." We know about tough markets and moonlighting in Minnesota.

The Northern Plains states have among the highest multiple job holding rates in the country, with Minnesota the top moonlighting state in 1994. State officials say about 8 percent of employed Minnesotans held more than one job in 2004 and about 5.4 percent in the U.S.

That was in good economy.

A national CareerBuilder.com survey in March found about 10 percent of Americans saying they'd taken a second job in the last year with 18 percent saying they planned to moonlight in 2009, according to USA Today (I'm still trying to find a link to the original survey data. If readers find it, please post it below.)

It's possible the state's farm economy explains some of the high numbers of multiple-job holders in Minnesota -- farmers often work second jobs when they aren't working fields.

But as we pointed out in April, we've heard from a couple dozen people in our Public Insight Network who aren't farmers who've told us they're working multiple jobs in this economy, often to raise in needed extra cash or to pay down debt.

You can read some of their stories here.

We'd love to hear from other folks about their experiences with second jobs. How do you manage all the demands of work and your personal life? Pros and cons? Tell us.

Below, we've mapped some other recent voices on jobs from our Public Insight Network. Take a look, then add your story.

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