Working on the side
Whether to make a dent in their debt, save up for vacations or gain more financial independence, many workers are turning to side jobs to supplement their incomes.
Demanding anywhere from just a few to several dozen hours a week, “gig” labor goes by several names. The Bureau of Labor Statistics calls people who do this work “contingency workers,” defined as those “who do not expect their jobs to last or who reported that their jobs are temporary. They do not have an implicit or explicit contract for continuing employment.”
This task-oriented work arrangement, which anthropologist David Graeber calls “the traditional human way to work,” makes sense for completing a single assignment, such as making a delivery, writing a grant proposal or caring for a child for an evening.
About 3.8 percent of U.S. workers, or 5.9 million people, do gig work as their main job, according to a 2018 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But plenty of other people do gig work on the side. Distinct from taking a part-time job to pay the bills, which traditionally requires a longer-term commitment and more hours per week, side jobs and side gigs offer several perks. They’re usually flexible in terms of duration, hours worked and sometimes even location. They come in many varieties and may draw on your personal passions or help satisfy your creativity in ways your day job doesn’t.
The payoff
And of course, side jobs bring in extra cash.
A 2018 survey of more than 2,000 Americans ages 18 to 36 who had both full-time and “side hustle” jobs found that, on average, they earn $8.64 per hour from their side jobs. Among respondents, 83 percent said they spend six to 10 hours a week on their side jobs, and 17 percent said they spend between 11 and 20 hours per week.
In a year, 48 percent earned up to $1,000; 33 percent earned between $1,000 and $5,000; 17 percent earned between $5,000 and $10,000; and 3 percent earned more than $10,000.
The survey was conducted on behalf of Simple, an online banking service.
Finding gigs
Digital technology — most specifically the smartphone — created many of the conditions necessary for the rise of the gig economy, writes Olga Mizrahi in her book “The Gig Is Up.” Dozens of third-party online platforms and mobile applications allow people seeking contingency work to find paying opportunities. Some of them post a broad variety of gigs, while others focus more narrowly on certain categories of work.
For example, TaskRabbit, a platform popular in the U.S. and United Kingdom, connects people who need one-time jobs performed with individuals willing to do that work. The top requested “tasks” or gigs are furniture assembly, moving assistance, television mounting and home cleaning and repair, according to Amelia McLear, the company’s director of communications and public affairs. More than 60,000 people are signed up to work as “Taskers.” They set their own rates, and the average hourly rate for Taskers in the U.S. is about $35.
Check out the following side jobs that are in demand, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and ZipRecruiter, an online employment marketplace that hosts job advertisements. Also, note examples of platforms and apps that advertise gig opportunities and companies that offer them.
Rideshare driver
Uber and Lyft ride-sharing services have become ubiquitous in many U.S. cities, although they’re still somewhat contentious to local government officials and taxi association leaders. The businesses rely on people with cars to work whenever is convenient for them, ferrying riders who hail cars using mobile applications on their smartphones.
Earnings vary by the company you work for and the area you drive in. In 2016, the Washington Post calculated that, after deducting taxes and expenses, Uber drivers made about $6.60 per hour in Detroit, $8.43 in Houston and $11.21 in Denver.
There are fees associated with this side job, such as gas, insurance and car maintenance costs, and parent companies take a cut of the money drivers earn.
Delivery driver or biker
Rather avoid the small talk involved with driving people? You can drive packages around instead.
The rise of online retail has driven up demand for delivery workers, and large companies like Amazon now hire individuals to use their own vehicles to drop packages on customers’ doorsteps. Amazon Flex promises to pay drivers between $18 and $25 per hour.
Businesses such as Postmates are also looking for food delivery workers, who may have the option of using bicycles instead of cars to pick up meals and bring them to customers.
Click here for information about full-time delivery driver jobs.
Shopper
If you enjoy browsing in the produce aisle, you may like working as a personal shopper.
Several grocery store chains now employ people to process orders customers make online. Some shoppers, like those who work for grocery company Instacart, also provide delivery services, while others pull and bag food and bring it to customers’ cars in the parking lot.
And the concept is expanding in new ways: In New York City, Walmart just launched a personal shopping service that allows people to order an array of products via text message.
Child care provider
Those Saturday nights you spent watching neighborhood kids as a teenager may pay off in your adulthood by qualifying you for child care gig work.
Digital platforms like Care.com and Sittercity help potential caregivers connect with families looking for help. They often require a background check. Some platforms allow caregivers to negotiate their pay, while others set rates. For example, one Sittercity service called Chime establishes an hourly rate of $15 in Washington, D.C., $14 in Chicago and $22 in New York and New Jersey; Chime takes a 10 percent service fee from each gig booked.
Of course, many parents prefer to use old-fashioned word-of-mouth referrals to find care for their children.
Warehouse worker
People looking for physical labor opportunities may consider working night or weekend shifts in warehouses. Job opportunities are especially plentiful around the winter holidays, according to Wonolo, a company that connects workers with gigs at large businesses such as Home Depot, The North Face and McDonald’s.
Warehouse workers stock shelves, assemble goods and operate heavy machinery to move products around. Median hourly wages range from $14.28 to $16.43, depending on responsibilities, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Data entry worker
If working from home is your top priority, a side job doing data entry may be ideal. These positions may involve transcribing audio files, cleaning spreadsheets, maintaining digital records and transferring information from paper to computer files.
The median wage for data entry keyers is $14.87, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, although most going rates for the service on gig platform TaskRabbit are higher.
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