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A third of 18 to 24 year olds have second jobs

12th January 2015 Print

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, according to research conducted on behalf of thinkmoney.co.uk.

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.

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.”