This article was originally written by Doug Short. From 2016-2022, it was improved upon and updated by Jill Mislinski. Starting in January 2023, AP Charts pages will be maintained by Jennifer Nash at Advisor Perspectives/VettaFi.
What are the long-term trends for multiple jobholders in the US? The Bureau of Labor Statistics has two decades of historical data to enlighten us on that topic, courtesy of table A-16 in the monthly Current Population Survey of households.
Multiple jobholders account for just 4.8% of civilian employment. The survey captures data for four subcategories (in pie chart at right) of the multi-job workforce, the relative sizes of which are illustrated in a pie chart. The distinction between "primary" and "secondary" jobs is a subjective one determined by the survey participants.
Not included in the statistics are the approximately 0.03% of the employed who work part-time on what they consider their primary job and full time on their secondary job(s).
Let's review the complete series to help us get a sense of the long-term trends. Here is a look at all the multiple jobholders as a percent of the civilian employed. The dots are the non-seasonally adjusted monthly data points, which are quite volatile, and a 12-month moving average to highlight the trend. The moving average peaked in the summer of 1997 and then began trending downward. The moving average hovered slightly below 5% between the last two recessions before dropping to as low as 4.4% in 2021. Since then, it has been gradually trending upward and currently sits at 4.9%, its highest level since June 2020.
