Why people are relying on ‘side hustles’

“It can be quite expensive funding a product-based business and I loved the idea of working across multiple clients and varying industries to branch out and flex my skills, while building a portfolio,” Distefano says.

Each week Distefano averages five to ten hours on each job outside her fulltime work. She admits the juggle is a squeeze, and limits socialising on weeknights to achieve it.

“It’s really tough to be honest, but when you’re doing something you love you’ll always find time for it,” she says.

While Distefano originally locked in her mortgage at a low rate, inflation has meant her repayments and cost of living have increased.

“Having the extra incomes has meant I don’t feel like I need to sacrifice much, and I’m incredibly grateful for that,” she says.

Oliver Woolrych, Community Organiser at Fiverr, says the hours given to a second job on their platform varies person to person and week to week.

“One of our freelancers works in NFT creation doing an extra 25 hours per week and makes approximately $14,000 per month, whereas another picks up voice over work on a project basis and makes $1500-$3000 for when she needs an extra income boost,” he says.

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Although tap dancing GP Dwyer plans to keep her jobs long term, that’s not the case for everyone.

“For some people this trend may be part of people’s exit strategies from their first job,” says Bamber.

Given both Distefano and Dwyer cite finding time for everything a challenge, if money is the key motivator behind the desire for a second job, it might be simpler to see if you can score a pay rise first instead.

“Working hours that are too long mitigates against wellbeing, as well as against work-life balance, workplace health and safety. There is a danger that people may have accidents if they are too tired when an evening job ride-sharing or doing food deliveries, especially if they have already done a day’s work in their first job,” Bamber points out.

Lauren Ford, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said the number of multiple job holders had increased by 4.3 per cent in the June quarter to a record high of around 900,000 people – 6.5 per cent of all employed people.

“This is the highest rate since the quarterly series commenced in 1994, and about 0.5 percentage points above its pre-pandemic level,” she said.

“The increase in secondary jobs and hours worked since early in the pandemic has coincided with a large fall in the number of part-time and full-time workers who would like to work more hours, with underemployment now at historical lows.”