By Troy Media
Over the last 20 years, the proportion of Canadian workers holding more than one job has been relatively stable. And women are more likely than men to be multiple jobholders, says a report released on Monday by Statistics Canada.
“Workers whose main job is in health care and social assistance have the highest incidence of multiple jobholding, while those in natural resources, manufacturing, and construction have the lowest. The sectors that have seen the largest increase in multiple jobholding since 1998 – information, culture and recreation, and educational services – have also seen the greatest rise in temporary employment,” said the report.
“People who are in part-time employment (particularly if it is involuntary) are more likely to hold multiple jobs, although the majority of multiple jobholders work full-time in their main job. This means that multiple jobholders work more hours per week than single job holders, on average. Lower weekly earnings are also associated with a higher likelihood of holding multiple jobs.
“Young adults in their 20s remain the most likely to work multiple jobs, although the incidence of multiple jobholding has increased the most among workers aged 55 and older. Self-employed workers are more likely to hold multiple jobs, and the majority of multiple jobholders hold the same type of position (employee or self-employed) in both their main and other job.”
Between 1998 and 2018, the proportion of workers who held more than one job at the same time increased from 5.0 per cent to 5.7 per cent. This period of relative stability followed a more notable increase over the previous two decades (from 2.4 per cent in 1978 to 5.0 per cent in 1998), explained StatsCan.
It said 65.7 per cent of multiple jobholders work full-time in their main job. Multiple jobholders work 10 hours more per week, on average, than single jobholders.
And multiple jobholding is most common for workers in the female-dominated sectors of healthcare and social assistance (8.7 per cent) and educational services (8.5 per cent).
“In 2018, just over 1 million people (5.7 per cent of workers) held more than one job, compared with 704,100 or 5.0 per cent in 1998,” said the report. “Looking back further, the rate grew more rapidly in the 1980s, then fluctuated around 5.0 per cent through the 1990s and into the early 2000s. From 2005 to 2015, the rate hovered between 5.2 per cent and 5.4 per cent, and then edged up to 5.7 per cent by 2018.
“Over the past 20 years, the incidence of multiple jobholding has consistently been higher among women compared to men, and has also increased more among women. In 2018, 6.8 per cent of employed women held more than one job, up 1.2 percentage points from 1998. In contrast, the incidence of multiple jobholding among men was almost unchanged over the period, at 4.5 per cent in 1998 compared with 4.7 per cent in 2018.
“These differences between men and women are partly associated with differences in employment and multiple jobholding across sectors.”
In both 1998 and 2018, workers whose main job was in health care and social assistance had the highest multiple jobholding rate (8.2 per cent in 1998; 8.7 per cent in 2018). Just over one quarter of the rise in multiple jobholding among women between 1998 and 2018 can be attributed to increased employment in this sector. In 2018, the occupational groups that contributed the most to the multiple jobholding rate in this sector were assisting occupations in support of health services, and technical occupations in health, added Statistics Canada.
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