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Multiple jobs? The prevalence, intensity and determinants of multiple jobholding in Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Paul Glavin
Paul Glavin*
Affiliation:
McMaster University, Canada
*
Paul Glavin, McMaster University, 635 KTH, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada. Email: glavinp@mcmaster.ca
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Abstract

While traditional labour market estimates indicate that there has been little change in the proportion of workers holding multiple jobs in North America, survey instrument deficiencies may be hiding more substantial growth driven by the gig economy. To address this possibility, I test a broader measure of multiple jobholding to examine its prevalence in the Canadian workforce based on two national studies of workers (2011 Canadian Work Stress and Health Study and 2019 Canadian Quality of Work and Economic Life Study). Almost 20% of workers in 2019 reported multiple jobholding – a rate that is three times higher than Statistics Canada estimates. While multivariate analyses reveal that the multiple jobholding rate in 2019 was 30% higher than in the 2011 Canadian Work Stress and Health Study, multiple jobholders in 2019 were less likely to report longer work hours in secondary employment. Analyses also revealed that having financial difficulties is consistently associated with multiple jobholding in 2011 and 2019. Collectively, these findings suggest that while the spread of short-term work arrangements has facilitated Canadians’ secondary employment decisions, for many workers these decisions may reflect underlying problems in the quality of primary employment in Canada, rather than labour market opportunity. I discuss the potential links between multiple jobholding, the gig economy and employment precariousness.

Keywords

J21Employment conditionsgig economyinformal economylabour marketsmultiple jobholdingsecondary employmentsociology of work
Type
Themed collection articles
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 31 , Issue 3: The Future of Work , September 2020 , pp. 383 - 402
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020

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