Amid sustained and widespread price hikes, several people in the United States have had to take extra shifts or temporary jobs at night or on weekends, a recent survey showed.
The vertiginous inflation in the United States has pushed that about 70% of people are looking for an additional job to be able to cover their expenses and basic needs, as a survey by the Bluecrew workforce platform showed.
The research work, applied to more than 1,000 part-time, full-time and unemployed workers, showed that 85% of people said they have changed their spending habits due to rising prices.
72% of those surveyed said that the inflationary context has changed their perception of their work and 57% of them sought new or additional roles in the last year.
“Rapid inflation is forcing people to look at not only how they spend their money, but also how they earn it,” said Matt Laurinas, director of customer service for the platform.
Laurinas said that, in many cases, people who are looking for work already log 40 hours a week. They are taking extra shifts or temporary jobs on nights or weekends.
High inflation and economic concerns may be driving a rebound in labor force participation rates and the number of hours people want to work, which have dropped during the pandemic, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve shows that nearly 5% of Americans have multiple jobs, including 440,000 people with two full-time jobs.
This takes place in the midst of galloping inflation in the country, which in August reached 8.3% year-on-year after reaching 8.5% in July, 9.1% in June, 8.6% in May, 8.3% in April and 8.5% in March, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Concerns about a recession and future consumer spending may be pushing some companies to scale back, Laurinas said. Walmart recently announced plans to hire 40,000 workers for the holiday season, down from the 150,000 retail and 20,000 supply chain workers hired last year.