Multiple job-holders

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The number and prevalence of people working more than one job, their demographic and employment characteristics and working arrangements.

Reference period
September 2023
Released
8/12/2023

Key statistics

For September 2023:

  • There were 955,600 multiple job-holders (6.6% of employed people)
  • 7.9% of employed women were multiple job-holders, compared to 5.6% of employed men
  • Workers aged 20-24 years old were most likely to be working multiple jobs (7.9%)
  • People who were a Community and personal service worker in their main job were most likely to be a multiple job-holder (10.5%).

Sources of multiple job-holder data

This multi-source release, published alongside the quarterly Labour Account, supports headline estimates in the Labour Account by providing additional detail on the characteristics of multiple job-holders.

This release brings together data from the following ABS sources on multiple job-holders: 

Multiple job-holding over time

In September 2023, there were 955,600 multiple job-holders, compared to just over 13 million single job-holders. This was down 0.8% from June 2023 when there were 962,900 multiple job-holders.

Between 1994 and 2019, the multiple job-holding rate remained between 5.0% and 6.0%. However, following a large decline at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020, it has steadily risen to a series high of 6.7% in June 2023 and now dropping to 6.6% in September 2023.

Source: Labour Account Australia (seasonally adjusted)

Sex

In September 2023, the rate of multiple job-holding was higher for women (7.9% compared with 5.6% for men). Over the past five years, on average, the multiple job-holding rate amongst women has been around 1.9 percentage points higher than men.

Note: The sum of males and females does not equal the headline estimates of multiple job-holders from the Labour Account as the number of male and female multiple job-holders is sourced directly from the Labour Force Survey. The Labour Account includes adjustments to account for populations which are out of scope for the Labour Force Survey, namely child workers, short-term non-residents and defence force personnel.

Source: Longitudinal Labour Force, Australia (original)

Age

Employed people aged 20-24 were most likely to hold more than one job in September 2023 (7.9%). In contrast, 5.2% of employed people aged 60-64 and 4.2% aged 65 or more were multiple job-holders.

Industry

People working in the Arts and recreation services and Administrative and support services industries in their main job had the highest multiple job-holding rates in September 2023 (9.1% and 8.8% respectively). Multiple job-holding was least common among people whose main job was in Electricity, gas, water and waste services.

It is important to note that some industries lend themselves to multiple job-holding. For example, some workers in Agriculture, forestry and fishing may work several seasonal jobs for different employers in addition to their main job; and some labour hire workers may work for a number of businesses in Administrative and support services.

Note: Multiple job-holding rate and levels are taken from the Labour Account. The number of male and female multiple job-holders by industry are derived from Jobs in Australia, and applied to the Labour Account level estimate.

Source: Labour Account Australia (seasonally adjusted) and Jobs in Australia 2019-20 (original)

The following diagrams show Jobs in Australia data of the most common combinations of industries of male and female multiple job-holder's main and second concurrent job.

For example, most female multiple job-holders whose main job was in Health care and social assistance also had their second job in Health care and social assistance, but there were many women whose main job was in Health care and social assistance and their second job in either Administrative and support services, Accommodation and food services, Retail trade or Education and training.

The data can be found in Jobs in Australia Table 4.

Industry of main and second job of female multiple job-holders, 2019-20

A sankey diagram showing the common industry combinations where female multiple job-holders work in their main job and second job. This data can be found in Table 4 in Jobs in Australia 2019-20.

A sankey diagram showing the common industries where female multiple job-holders work for their main job and their second job. The industries shown are:

H - Accommodation and food services - with most having their main and second job in Accommodation and food services, and some Accommodation and food services in their main job and either Retail trade or Administrative and support services in their second job

G - Retail trade - with around half whose main job is in Retail trade having their second job in Retail trade, followed by Retail trade in their main job and either Accommodation and food services, Administrative and support services, Health care and social assistance or Education and training in their second job

N - Administrative and support services - with most having their main and second job in Administrative and support services, followed by Administrative and support services in their main job and either Accommodation and food services, or Health care and social assistance in their second job

Q - Health care and social assistance - with most having their main and second job in Health care and social assistance, followed by Health care and social assistance in their main job and either Administrative and support services, Accommodation and food services, Retail trade or Education and training in their second job

P - Education and training - with most having their main and second job in Education and training, followed by their main job in Education and training and Administrative and support services, Health care and social assistance or Public Administration and safety in their second job

M - Professional, scientific and technical services - with most having both their main and second job in this industry

O - Public administration and safety - with most having both their main and second job in this industry

Industry of main and second job of male multiple job-holders, 2019-20

A sankey diagram showing the common industry combinations where male multiple job-holders work in their main job and second job. This data can be found in Table 4 in Jobs in Australia 2019-20.

A sankey diagram showing the common industries where male multiple job-holders work for their main job and their second job. The industries shown are:

A - Agriculture, forestry and fishing - with most having both their main and second job in this industry

C - Manufacturing - with around half whose main job is in Manufacturing having their second job in Manufacturing, and half their second job in Administrative and support services

E - Construction - with over half whose main job is in Construction having their second job in Construction, followed by Construction in their main job and Administrative and support services in their second job and Construction in their main job and Accommodation and food services in their second job

N - Administrative and support services - with most having their main and second job in Administrative and support services, followed by Administrative and support services in their main job and either Construction, or Accommodation and food services in ther second job

G - Retail trade - with over half whose main job is in Retail having their second job in Retail, followed by Retail trade in their main job and either Administrative and support services or Accommodation and food services in their second job

H - Accommodation and food services - with most having their main and second job in Accommodation and food services, and some Accommodation and food services in their main job and Administrative and support services in their second job

M - Professional, scientific and technical services - with over half whose main job is in Professional, scientific and technical services having their second job in Professional, scientific and technical services and just under half their main job in Professional, scientific and technical services and their second job in Administrative and support services

I - Transport, postal and warehousing- with most having both their main and second job in this industry

O - Public administration and safety - with most having both their main and second job in this industry

P - Education and training - with most having both their main and second job in this industry

Q - Health care and social assistance - with most having both their main and second job in this industry

Occupation

In August 2023, 10.5% of all people who were a Community and personal service worker in their main job were multiple job-holders. Machinery operators and drivers were least likely to be a multiple job-holder (3.3%)

Note: The sum of occupations does not equal the headline estimate of multiple job-holders from the Labour Account as the number of multiple job-holders, by occupation is sourced directly from the Labour Force Survey. The Labour Account includes adjustments to account for populations which are out of scope for the Labour Force Survey, namely child workers, short-term non-residents and defence force personnel.

Source: Longitudinal Labour Force, Australia (original)

Hours worked

In September 2023:

  • Multiple job-holders usually worked 29.9 hours, on average, in their main job, and 9.4 hours in their secondary job(s) - a total of 39.3 hours per week, on average.
  • Single job-holders usually worked 35.1 hours per week, on average.

Multiple job-holders were most likely to work part-time hours (less than 35 hours per week) in both their main and secondary job(s), followed by a combination of full-time and part-time hours. There were a small number of people who had two full-time jobs.

Note: The full-time / part-time hours categories are based on hours actually worked in the reference week, so exclude employed people who were away from work.

Source: Longitudinal Labour Force, Australia (original)

 

Note: The full-time / part-time hours categories are based on hours actually worked in the reference week, so exclude employed people who were away from work. The small number of people working two full-time jobs have been excluded from this graph.

Source: Longitudinal Labour Force, Australia (original)

Geography

In September 2023, the multiple job-holding rate was higher in regional areas (7.3%) compared to capital cities (6.4%) at the Australia level. Overtime, growth in multiple job-holding rates in capital cities has led to a narrowing of the difference between rates in capital cities and the rest of Australia. 

In September 2023, the multiple job-holding rate was highest in:

  • Capital city: Greater Hobart (8.5%)
  • Rest of state or territory: Northern Territory (9.0%)

Tasmania was the only state or territory where multiple job-holding was more prevalent in the greater capital city than rest of state or territory. 

Multiple job-holding rates by Greater Capital City Statistical Area, September 2023

Loading map...

A map showing the multiple job-holding rate in each capital city, and the balance of each state and territory. The data are available in the Table view.

Footnotes

Data downloads

Table 1: Multiple job-holders rates and levels

Rates and levels of multiple job-holders time series. Sourced from the Labour Accounts.

Table 2: Multiple job-holders by age and sex

Time series of multiple job-holders by age and sex. Sourced from the Labour Force Survey

Table 3: Multiple job-holders income, by age, by sex and number of concurrent jobs

Median employment income of multiple job holders. Sourced from Jobs in Australia

Table 4: Multiple job-holders by industry, by sex, by median income

Multiple job-holders rates and levels by industry, by sex and by median income. Levels from the Labour Accounts are proportioned using Jobs in Australia sex data of industries. Median income data by industry sourced from Jobs in Australia 

Table 5: Multiple job-holders by selected characteristics

Multiple job-holders and employed persons by occupation, average usual hours worked, by State, by Greater Capital City Statistical Area, and by educational qualifications. Sourced from the Labour Force Survey.

All data downloads

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