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Percentage of Americans working second job is increasing yet they make less than those who don't.

The U.S Census Bureau released data early last year that detailed how the percentage of American workers working more than one job is trending higher and higher over the last 20 years. This trend is marked with specific definitions for multiple jobholders being "anyone who holds two or more jobs in a quarter and at least one of these jobs is a long-lasting, stable job."


In a timespan from 1996 to 2018, the average multiple jobholding rate was 7.2% of all people who are employed. In the first quarter of 2018, the rate was 7.8%. This is a trend that continues to tick upwards, and many are calling for politicians to address this. What is especially highlighted is the fact that those who do not hold multiple jobs make an average of $15,750 in a quarter, while multiple jobholders make an average of $13,550 in a quarter, further pointing out the need for talking about it.


One reason why Americans might be seeking secondary employment is to pay off debt. CNBC finds that the average American has $90,460 worth of debt. With that much debt, it's understandable that people might need another job in order to make ends meet. This data is also from before the virus, and the current economic crisis, so it would be interesting to see even more recent data.


The reason that we're looking at this data is partially to showcase an important principle: data and research doesn't always provide an alternative. Oftentimes we have research about different issues, but that doesn't automatically mean that they know how to fix said issue.


You can ask a group of people what should be done about people feeling like they have to work multiple jobs, and you'd get a lot of different, yet helpful answers. Some people think raising the minimum wage will fix it, some people want to cancel student debt. Other people want to require financial literacy to be taught, or not push so many high schoolers towards college as if they absolutely need it. There can be a myriad of ideas to solve the exact same issue, and yet people get so polarized about it.


Research points us towards what might work best, but sometimes you need to consider all of the options in front of you and determine how they might work together, instead of assuming that if someone has a different proposed solution, that they don't care about people.



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