CULTURE MOMENT: Americans are increasingly spending time outside of their work days, well, working. From flipping vintage clothes on Depop to walking dogs, nearly two in five U.S. adults —?and a whopping 53% of Gen Zs — say they earn extra income from a side hustle on top of their 9-to-5 jobs, according to a recent study by Bankrate.?
- Forget passion; extra income is essential. Amid high inflation, a third of U.S. adults with a side hustle say the extra money goes towards daily living expenses, according to Bankrate.?
- Side jobs net more than pocket change. Entrepreneurial Zs earn on average $753 per month from their side hustles, slightly behind Millennials who make just over $1,000 monthly.
- The “grindset” is gender agnostic. While hustle culture memes tend to skew male, 35% of women now claim to have a side hustle. That said, just like in the traditional job market, men tend to earn more — averaging $380 more per month than women ($989 vs. $603).
- Hustling cuts across all income brackets. People with six figure incomes are most likely to work another job on the side.?
- Hustle culture is here to stay, according to Zs. 28% of those with a side hustle believe they’ll always need one to make ends meet, according to Bankrate.
WHAT IT MEANS ABOUT GEN Zs:
- As Zs reinvent their career paths, they’re rewriting definitions of success. Whether by choice or circumstance, Zs’ career paths are becoming non-linear — and that will have a huge impact on how they see themselves in the world. With more fluctuation in their gigs (and incomes), Zs will reinvent traditional milestones, including kids and marriage.
- Zs’ careers contain multitudes —?and so do they. Thanks to digital platforms, Zs have a wider range of spaces to generate income from than previous generations did. As a result, they’re able to embrace a wider variety of sides of themselves. A typical workday might include flexing their? left brain to manage a project by day, then embracing their right brain as they moonlight as a photography by night —?engaging with a diverse range of collaborators along the way.?
- Hustle culture is evolving. You might be asking: how do side hustles square with the much buzzed about trends of quiet quitting and “lazy girl jobs”? It comes down to freedom and flexibility. Zs say the benefit of side hustles is that they’re done on their own time and at their convenience, for the most part. This gen continues to prioritize mental health, and see their side hustles more as self-care in the form of a financial safety net than as overtime.?
Gen Alpha will soon be entering the workforce too. Check out our recent research on Alphas here!
