Side job - Wikipedia

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A side job, also informally called a side hustle or side gig, is an extra job that a person takes in addition to their primary job in order to supplement their income. Side jobs may be done out of necessity when a person's main job does not provide sufficient income to support them, or simply out of a desire to earn more money or to try something interesting. Working a side job is also referred to as moonlighting, usually when it is performed after regular business hours. A side job can be a full-time job, part-time contract, or freelance work, and a person can hold more than one side job.^[2]

A "day job" is defined as work a person does "to earn money so that [they] can do something else that [they] prefer but that does not pay [them] much money."^[3] Side jobs are typically tasks that can be completed on a part-time or freelance basis at the same time as having a day job. Examples include copywriting, ecommerce (such as selling products on Amazon), affiliate marketing, providing social media marketing services, freelance web design, foreign language lessons or translations, tutoring or coaching, graphic design, freelance writing, and business management.

Side jobs have become more prevalent in the United States because of wage stagnation and low wage growth that have not kept up with the rising cost of living.^[4] Working a side job imposes a burden since it lengthens one's working hours. In 2023, nearly 39% of all Americans reported having a side job,^[5] with 57% of New Yorkers needing one to make ends meet.^[6] A third of U.S. adults say they require a side job to pay for basic household expenses.^[5] In the United Kingdom, 60% of students and graduates reported having a side job in 2019, and 43% required it to pay renting expenses.^[7]

The most common reason workers take on side jobs is to obtain additional disposable income.^[5] The side job can also be a means to pay off student loans, or to leverage one's creativity in ways normally not available in the traditional workplace.^[5]^[8] Millennials were the most likely to have a side job, often to provide a financial "safety net",^[9] leading them to be labeled the "side hustle generation".^[8] However, Gen Z has surpassed Millennials as the generation with the highest rate of working side jobs.^[10]

References

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^ Scanlon, Victoria (December 3, 2023). "Side Hustle Survey: New Insights About Independent Workers Entering 2024". SideHustles.
^ McDowell, Erin (June 28, 2019). "21 high-paying side jobs you can do in your spare time". Business Insider.
^ "day job". Cambridge Dictionary.
^ Quartz, Alissa (April 6, 2019). "The Con of the Side Hustle". The New York Times.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Gillespie, Lane (May 24, 2023). "Survey: 39% have a side hustle, and 44% believe they'll always need one". Bankrate.
^ Team, NY Bet (May 17, 2023). "Hustle or Bust: Over Half of New Yorkers Need a Side Gig to Survive". NY BET. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
^ Fenton, Abigail (November 22, 2019). "Two in five young Brits rely on 'side hustle' to make ends meet". Yahoo! Finance.
^ ^a ^b Vallejo, Camila (November 14, 2019). "Tales from the 'side hustle generation': Meet the Connecticut millennials working multiple jobs to pay the bills". Hartford Courant.
^ Allen, Robert G. (5 April 2005). Multiple Streams of Income: How to Generate a Lifetime of Unlimited Wealth. ISBN 978-0471714552.
^ Alexandrea, Jordana (May 22, 2025). "Side hustle statistics for 2025: Key data, trends, and what they mean". Hostinger.

External links

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Side Hustle Nation website

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