From Ambition to Obligation: Why Side Hustles Are Here to Stay

The era of the side hustle is here to stay. Not necessarily because we’ve all suddenly become more entrepreneurial, but because for many workers, there’s no other choice.

With inflation stretching wages thinner and mounting cost of living challenges, many employees have resorted to picking up extra shifts or jobs in order to weather the economic storm and Gen-Z seems to be standing directly in its path.

Gen Z on the Frontline

Employment Hero’s Annual Jobs Report, drawn from aggregated sights from over 350,000 businesses and 2 million employees across Australia, New Zealand and the UK and supported by YouGov research involving 3,635 workers, draws back the curtain on this new normal. It reveals that while 21% of employees (one in five) have more than one job, that number doubles when it comes to working-age members of Gen-Z. Forty-two percent of this cohort, many of whom will have just begun their careers, are already learning what it means to split their time between jobs.

Confidence in Decline

It’s no wonder then, so many employees have lost confidence in the job market. Fifty-nine percent think the labour market is on a downward trajectory. And while, as Kevin Fitzgerald, UK Managing Director at Employment Hero explains, “we are beginning to see early signs of recovery in employment”, faith in the job market’s ability to bounce back isn’t rising with those small gains.

The trend comes at a time when job security is increasingly scarce and prospects for the future are muddy at best. With less job stability, 29% of workers are working more hours just to get by.

From Choice to Compulsion

Nina Skero, Chief Executive of CEBR, explains why side hustle culture has transformed from a willing choice among those who wish to diversify their careers to a fundamental means of surviving the economy. She points out that “it’s not surprise” that employees have been faced with this difficult choice.

“Workers are facing a difficult balancing act; inflation continues to erode real wages, and job opportunities are thinning out. While this adaptability is impressive, it highlights the wider fragility of the UK’s labour market and the need for policies that restore both stability and confidence.”

Signs of Hope, Shadows of Strain

Despite this, average unemployment rates aren’t as low as they have been historically, and earnings growth – particularly in regions like the North and East of the UK – is showing signs of strength. In fact, the Employment Hero Annual Jobs Report shows that as of July, wages increased year-on-year to 2.6%, recovering from its winter of negative growth, which rose above 0% in March. But set against the challenges of the cost of living crisis, it’s clear the average person is still feeling the pinch enough to stretch themselves thin.

The New Normal of Work

In many ways, the persistence of the side hustle reflects both the resilience and the precarity of today’s workforce. While there are glimmers of recovery in wages and employment, the reality is that a growing number of workers – especially the youngest – are entering their careers in an environment where one job alone no longer feels secure enough. Until confidence in the labour market is restored and wages can keep pace with the cost of living, the side hustle will remain less a symbol of entrepreneurial spirit, and more a stark reminder of the compromises workers must make to stay afloat.