deep-analysis
Another Workplace After Clocking Out: A Growing Number of 4050 Breadwinners Are Working Second Jobs
The number of multiple-job holders (side-hustlers) practicing a secondary occupation alongside their primary jobs reached an all-time high of approximately 680,000 as of early November 2025, continuing an upward trend for nearly two years. While the absolute scale remains largest among those aged 60 and older, growth is notably pronounced among youth and individuals in their 40s, highlighting subsistence-driven side jobs taken on by 40- and 50-year-old breadwinners simultaneously juggling children's education and housing costs. The types of side jobs have expanded beyond delivery and designated driving to micro-office tasks, online lectures, and data labeling, while rider app registrations among those in their 40s and 50s have also surged over the past few years. Although multiple-job holders generate higher total incomes, their hourly earnings are paradoxically lower, and their social insurance enrollment rates are low. Furthermore, an influx of delivery riders in 2026 has led to a decline in per-capita earnings. With falling real wages, record-high household debt, and employment instability overlapping to solidify side jobs as a survival strategy, extended working hours and blind spots in labor protection remain critical challenges.
The number of multiple-job holders (side-hustlers) practicing a secondary occupation alongside their primary jobs reached an all-time high of approximately 680,000 as of early November 2025, continuing an upward trend for nearly two years. While the absolute scale remains largest among those aged 60 and older, growth is notably pronounced among youth and individuals in their 40s, highlighting subsistence-driven side jobs taken on by 40- and 50-year-old breadwinners simultaneously juggling children's education and housing costs. The types of side jobs have expanded beyond delivery and designated driving to micro-office tasks, online lectures, and data labeling, while rider app registrations among those in their 40s and 50s have also surged over the past few years. Although multiple-job holders generate higher total incomes, their hourly earnings are paradoxically lower, and their social insurance enrollment rates are low. Furthermore, an influx of delivery riders in 2026 has led to a decline in per-capita earnings. With falling real wages, record-high household debt, and employment instability overlapping to solidify side jobs as a survival strategy, extended working hours and blind spots in labor protection remain critical challenges.
Multiple-job holders reach an all-time high of approximately 680,000… the highest level since statistics began in 2014 The scene of the evening commute doubling as the start of a second workday is increasingly confirmed by statistics. In the evenings after finishing their primary jobs, the sight of office workers pulling down helmets, carrying delivery bags, or waiting for designated driving calls is no longer unfamiliar and is becoming steadily more common. In particular, statistical and field observations repeatedly capture the tendency of 40- and 50-year-old breadwinner generations—who are responsible for family livelihoods—to fill their post-work hours with another form of labor after concluding that their primary job salaries alone are insufficient to cover rising living costs. Examining microdata from the Economically Active Population Survey by Statistics Korea (now the National D…