Multiple Jobholders are 4.8% of All Employed

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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 0.06% 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 4.92%, its highest level since May 2020.

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The next chart focuses on all four subcategories referenced in the pie chart. The trend outlier is the series illustrated with the blue line: multiple part-time jobholders. Its trough was in 2002 and trended higher in early 2007, long before Obamacare. At about the same time we also see a steepening decline in the trend for the employed whose hours vary between full- and part-time for either their primary or secondary job.

Here is a closer look at the two cohorts that have changed the most since the mid-2000s. I've rescaled the vertical axis to give us a clearer view of the trends.

The great recession noticeably increased the percentage of multiple part-time jobholders. This metric leveled out in 2010 and 2011, but it subsequently resumed a slow upward trend up until the COVID-pandemic. It seems likely that the downward trend for the cohort whose hours vary for their primary or secondary job (the green line) has contributed to the rise of exclusively part-timers (the blue line).

For a more detailed look at the broader topic of the full-time/part-time ratio see this monthly update.

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 VettaFi | Advisor Perspectives