Blog Post

4.3 Million Women Work Multiple Jobs to Make Ends Meet

Last month, the unemployment rate was 4.6 percent overall and 4.2 percent for women, which is the lowest it’s been since the recession. And while that’s great news, the unemployment rate for black women (7.1 percent) was still much higher than white men’s (3.9 percent) and the higher unemployment rate for women with disabilities (11.3 percent) and single moms (6.2 percent) remains stagnant.
In addition, while fewer women are unemployed, this month’s #JobsReport shows us that millions of women need to work more than one job in order to make ends meet.
Nearly 4.3 million women, or 6 percent of all working women, held down more than one job in November.
Women made up more than half (53%) of all people who worked multiple jobs last month. And of women who held multiple jobs in November, nearly 50 percent worked a secondary part- or full-time job on top of a primary full-time job.
While most women who work multiple jobs overall are younger (age 20-24) more women ages 25-54 hold down multiple jobs than men in the same age group.
More than half a million women who held multiple jobs in November had a primary or secondary job with hours that varied – meaning their job was not consistently part-time or full-time.
Unpredictable schedules can already be problematic for women balancing childcare, family, and household budget obligations. Holding down a job with unpredictable hours on top of another job only adds to the stress of meeting her family’s needs.
180,000 women held down two full-time jobs last month.
Forty-eight percent of workers who worked two full-time jobs in November were women. This means these 180,000 women worked 70 hours or more per week, which can have serious implications for childcare costs, for those with children, time spent with family, and their ability to be involved in their community.