Roughly 44.5% of the respondents to a recent survey by online recruitment platform eJobs Romania said they need to supplement their monthly income, which is why they have taken on a second job.

Most of them (29.5%) have simultaneous Monday-to-Friday jobs, 11.2% have a full-time job from Monday to Friday and a part-time job on weekends, and 11.6% take on extra projects from time to time. Less than 4% have several part-time jobs.

"It's no surprise that money is the main reason why Romanians take a second job. Thus, the survey results show that almost 6 out of 10 respondents do not earn enough from their main job to cover their monthly expenses. Other reasons cited are either that they need to raise money for an important purchase in the near future, that they would like to change the field and try to work in another industry to see what suits them better, or that they are at the beginning of their career, have a lot of free time and want to use it to earn more. Somehow, if we were to include them in a larger umbrella, almost all the answers point in the same direction - higher financial gains," said Ana Călugăru, Head of Communications at eJobs.

Asked how much they earn extra with the second job, 38.7% said between 20% and 30% of the salary from the primary job, 18.8% said they supplement their income by 30% - 40%, 14.9% by 40% - 50%, and 9.9% by more than 50%. For 13.4%, the second job brings a doubling of the salary, while 4.3% even say that the part-time or weekend job is better paid than the main one.

"It is also interesting that more than half of the respondents (56.8%) say that the second job is in a completely different field than the first," Ana Călugăru said.

"The main disadvantages seen by survey respondents are that they cannot perform at both jobs as they should and, on the other hand, they no longer have time for their personal lives, but also that they feel exhausted and fear that their health will be affected," she added.

Almost 47% of those with two jobs would give up one if a salary would be enough to cover their monthly expenses. Meanwhile, 12.1% would do the same if they could no longer maintain a balance between their personal and professional lives, and the same percentage would keep only one job if they felt physically and emotionally exhausted.

The survey was conducted between April and May 2023 on a sample of 1,350 respondents.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Fizkes/Dreamstime.com)