[UK] 1 in 4 young women are juggling multiple jobs

In the UK, new research has revealed that 1 in 4 young women have worked more than one job over the course of a tax year, Women's Budget Group reports.

The analysis - by the Universities of Birmingham and Nottingham and the UK Women’s Budget Group - highlights the growing pressures facing young workers and the true scope of the issue.

It reportedly shows that standard labour market statistics are failing to capture the full extent of multiple jobholding and the risk to young women securing an income.

According to the researchers, the trend reflects deeper structural problems in the UK labour market, including low pay, unpredictable hours, temporary contracts and weak enforcement of employment rights.

Together with the Young Women’s Trust, the academics and the Women’s Budget Group are calling on the Government to deliver the Employment Rights Act in full and introduce targeted measures to address multiple-job-holding among young women.

They warn that, without intervention, these patterns risk entrenching gender inequalities across women’s working lives.

The analysis found that young women (16–29) are the group most likely to work multiple jobs compared with older women and men, according to both HMRC payroll data and self-reported survey data.

Innovative research linking the latest available payroll data from HMRC with the annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) reportedly revealed that one in four (24.7 per cent) young women held multiple jobs within the 2018-2019 tax year, compared to one in five men (20.2 per cent).

These findings were backed by more recent self-reported data from the Understanding Society Survey, showing that one in ten young women in the UK reported holding more than one job at the same time in 2023-24. Around one in fifteen young men reported having more than one job. This is an increase over the previous year. In 2022-23, the multiple jobholding rate for young women in the UK was 7 per cent, increasing to 10.6 per cent, and from 5.5 per cent to 6.8 per cent for young men.

Young women in multiple jobs are reportedly at particular risk of long-term pension disadvantage because many do not reach the £10,000 annual earnings threshold with any single employer required for automatic pension enrolment. 

Dr Darja Reuschke - Associate Professor at City-REDI University of Birmingham - said, “The data sources that are typically used to inform employment policies are seriously underreporting how common multiple jobholding really is. As a result, the issue has largely been overlooked.  Our study used Real Time Information payroll data that employers have to send to the HMRC. 

“This shows directly on how many payrolls from different employers people are in the same months or week. The revealed level of multiple jobholding is much higher in these data than in other data sources and that young women are especially likely to be juggling multiple jobs. Better data help us understand what is actually happening in the labour market and whose working lives are misunderstood.”

Emma Thackray - Senior Research and Data Officer at the Women’s Budget Group - said, “Young women are increasingly piecing together multiple insecure jobs just to get by – and this is rarely by choice. Too many roles offer low pay, short hours, and little security, leaving young women vulnerable now and threatening their economic futures.

"We’re currently looking at an average 43% gender pensions gap, more than three times the gender pay gap. The Employment Rights Act is a crucial step forward to provide guaranteed hours provisions, but the government must take multiple jobholding seriously and introduce targeted measures to protect women’s long-term financial security.”

Source: Women's Budget Group

(Quotes via original reporting)

In the UK, new research has revealed that 1 in 4 young women have worked more than one job over the course of a tax year, Women's Budget Group reports.

The analysis - by the Universities of Birmingham and Nottingham and the UK Women’s Budget Group - highlights the growing pressures facing young workers and the true scope of the issue.

It reportedly shows that standard labour market statistics are failing to capture the full extent of multiple jobholding and the risk to young women securing an income.

According to the researchers, the trend reflects deeper structural problems in the UK labour market, including low pay, unpredictable hours, temporary contracts and weak enforcement of employment rights.

Together with the Young Women’s Trust, the academics and the Women’s Budget Group are calling on the Government to deliver the Employment Rights Act in full and introduce targeted measures to address multiple-job-holding among young women.

They warn that, without intervention, these patterns risk entrenching gender inequalities across women’s working lives.

The analysis found that young women (16–29) are the group most likely to work multiple jobs compared with older women and men, according to both HMRC payroll data and self-reported survey data.

Innovative research linking the latest available payroll data from HMRC with the annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) reportedly revealed that one in four (24.7 per cent) young women held multiple jobs within the 2018-2019 tax year, compared to one in five men (20.2 per cent).

These findings were backed by more recent self-reported data from the Understanding Society Survey, showing that one in ten young women in the UK reported holding more than one job at the same time in 2023-24. Around one in fifteen young men reported having more than one job. This is an increase over the previous year. In 2022-23, the multiple jobholding rate for young women in the UK was 7 per cent, increasing to 10.6 per cent, and from 5.5 per cent to 6.8 per cent for young men.

Young women in multiple jobs are reportedly at particular risk of long-term pension disadvantage because many do not reach the £10,000 annual earnings threshold with any single employer required for automatic pension enrolment. 

Dr Darja Reuschke - Associate Professor at City-REDI University of Birmingham - said, “The data sources that are typically used to inform employment policies are seriously underreporting how common multiple jobholding really is. As a result, the issue has largely been overlooked.  Our study used Real Time Information payroll data that employers have to send to the HMRC. 

“This shows directly on how many payrolls from different employers people are in the same months or week. The revealed level of multiple jobholding is much higher in these data than in other data sources and that young women are especially likely to be juggling multiple jobs. Better data help us understand what is actually happening in the labour market and whose working lives are misunderstood.”

Emma Thackray - Senior Research and Data Officer at the Women’s Budget Group - said, “Young women are increasingly piecing together multiple insecure jobs just to get by – and this is rarely by choice. Too many roles offer low pay, short hours, and little security, leaving young women vulnerable now and threatening their economic futures.

"We’re currently looking at an average 43% gender pensions gap, more than three times the gender pay gap. The Employment Rights Act is a crucial step forward to provide guaranteed hours provisions, but the government must take multiple jobholding seriously and introduce targeted measures to protect women’s long-term financial security.”

Source: Women's Budget Group

(Quotes via original reporting)