More Americans are working two jobs to make ends meet
MIAMI - A growing number of Americans are working multiple jobs just to make ends meet.
The latest jobs report from the US Department of Labor showed nearly 8.4 million people had multiple jobs in October. That's the highest number since the start of the pandemic.
Women appear to be leading that trend. The federal data showed nearly six percent worked multiple jobs in October compared to 4.7 percent of men.
Experts say people may be taking on additional jobs to offset high inflation which has been easing but is still painfully high for some households. Non-profits like the United Way said inflation is outpacing wage growth and that's making it harder for them to help families.
Remote work also offers more flexibility and opportunities for workers to manage several jobs from home. There's also fear that layoffs could have people looking for supplemental jobs. But one economist said layoffs are actually historically low right now.
"Companies are reluctant to lose their workers and they're willing to negotiate even higher salaries to keep them," said Nela Richardson, Chief Economist at ADP, an online payroll and HR solutions company.
US employers added only 150,000 jobs last month, that's the smallest gain since June, signaling the economy is slowing. It also signals that the Federal Reserve's action to tame inflation may be working.
"The question is how quickly is it working? We're still far from the 2% target, but inflation has come down quite a bit," said Richardson.
The Fed has raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times since March 2022 to try to slow the economy and tame inflation, which hit a four-decade high last year but has slowed sharply since then. In September, consumer prices rose 3.7% from a year earlier, down drastically from a year-over-year peak of 9.1% in June 2022 but still well above the Fed's 2% target level.
