Number of people with more than one job falling, says report

The number of people working multiple jobs is at a record low, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation.

It says around 1.1 million people work multiple jobs, making up 3.6 per cent of the workforce – 590,000 of these have multiple employee roles, 120,000 have multiple self-employments and 420,000 combine employment and self-employment.

It adds that, accounting for seasonal differences, the proportion of workers doing multiple jobs is at a record low, having peaked at around five per cent in the mid-1990s, with the proportion of workers doing multiple employee jobs falling particularly far, and half of those with multiple jobs now self-employed in one or all of their jobs.

More women than men have multiple jobs, with 25-29 and 45-54 the most common ages, it states. The most common sectors for workers with multiple jobs are education, health and social care, arts and sports, hairdressing and bar work/

The report says a majority of second jobs involve eight hours or fewer per week and are more likely to be considered temporary, but in total across both jobs a substantial and disproportionate number of those with multiple jobs work over 40 hours a week. Only a minority earn enough from their second jobs to be liable for National Insurance payments on these earnings in the current system. When families are considered rather than individuals, workers with multiple jobs are more likely to live in richer households, says the report.

The Office of Tax Simplification has suggested aggregating NI across each individual’s employments and self-employments with a single per-person allowance. The report says that would mean a tax increase of up to £19 a week for a worker with two employee jobs (or almost £1,000 for a full year);

It says of the working-age families containing an individual with multiple jobs, 22 per cent earn too little from their employments to be affected by aggregation, a further half would lose up to £10 a week and the remaining 28 per cent could lose over £10 a week.

It finds that, given the distribution of working-age families containing an individual with multiple jobs, and their levels of earnings, the poorest two fifths would be least affected in aggregate both in absolute and proportional terms. However, there would be some significant losers among low and middle income families, but Universal Credit could mitigate some of the loss.