I watched a very depressing documentary recently about people in the U.S. that need to work multiple, low paid jobs to survive. Often they would have to commute a few hours a day.

Here in Finland, every employer I’ve had has told us we shouldn’t work overtime and if we work more than 37.5hrs a week, we must take flex-time. I don’t know anyone that works more than one f/t job.

Is it really as bad as it seems in the U.S.?

28 comments

  1. 40 hours a week. Referee some soccer on the side as a hobby and for some extra cash, but not because I need a 2nd job.

  4. I’m a college student on the GI Bill so school is free, I have two jobs cause I wanna stack some fucking bread

  5. I work from 40 to 60 hours a week depending on the work load, but I rarely am forced to work over 40 hours. Over 40 hours is 1.5 times hourly rate, so it’s worthwhile. Lots of folks do work several jobs to make it though. I’m fortunate to have a union blue-collar job with good pay and benefits. I have just the one job.

  6. 2000ish hours per year. Approx $300k salary. The hours suck, the pay is great.

    In the US, you burn to make a comfortable living. There’s disagreement over how much one should have to work to just survive. Not everyone wants to work a lot or even 40 hrs/week.

    I grew up lower middle class in one of the poorest states in the country. I used to live in Mexico (I’m not Mexican but just lived there). They work harder, longer hours for a lot less. I’m fine with the way it is for me. I paid my dues and now it’s working out fine.

  8. 40hrs, one job pays very well.

    However, last week I worked 50+ due to getting ready for a vacation.

  9. 35-40 hours, and that’s only if you consider sitting in front of my work computer as work. Actually legitimate work is less than that. No, I don’t need a second job to survive.

  10. I have one job that pays me enough. I work 37.5-42 hours a week. I don’t get paid overtime and that’s fine as I’m salaried.

  11. I’m self-employed, I work anywhere from 30 to 80 hours a week depending on the week.

    > I don’t know anyone that works more than one f/t job.

    Neither do I, most people who work multiple jobs have either multiple part-time jobs, or a full-time job and a part-time job.

  12. Per https://policyadvice.net/insurance/insights/average-american-income/ :
    The median household income in the US in 2019 was $68,703
    The average annual real wage in 2019 in the US was $65,836
    Full-time working women in 2019 had real median earnings of $47,299
    Full-time working men in 2019 had real median earnings of $57,456

    In sum- most people will be just fine, but people who are well below the median earnings or have kids / lots of expenses may struggle

    To answer your specific question, I work about 38 hours a week and make a nice living. My husband works about 55 hrs a week but also gets 8 weeks of vacation (plus most holidays) and makes a very good living.

  13. > Multiple jobholding has become more prevalent in the U.S. economy over the past two decades.
    >
    > Over the entire 22-year time period from the second quarter of 1996 to the first quarter of 2018, the multiple jobholding rate has averaged 7.2% of all employed individuals, [according to the LEHD data.](https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/02/new-way-to-measure-how-many-americans-work-more-than-one-job.html)
    >
    > The multiple jobholding rate is defined as the number of multiple jobholders in a given quarter divided by the total number of employed persons.
    >
    > Figure 1 shows the seasonally adjusted time series of the multiple jobholding rate. The multiple jobholding rate increased from 6.8% in the second quarter of 1996 to 7.8% in the first quarter of 2018.
    >

    These numbers are a few years old, but they reflect years of data. No, it’s not as bad as it seems. Reddit and social media are not real life. Documentaries are not often made about the 92+% of Americans living normal lives, with good health insurance, with good retirement plans. I’m older than the main demographic for Reddit. I know very few people who are working multiple jobs or struggling. Anecdotes and documentaries are not representative of the whole of our country. My anecdotes are just as valid as the 25 year old grad student living at home, neither represents actual data.

  14. I work 35-40 hours a week in retail, which is low paid, I guess, but it’s still the best paying job I’ve ever had. I’m not under the poverty line anymore. I live with roommates, but that’s not unusual since rent is so expensive here. All the single people I know either live with roommates or family. I have enough money to eat well, save a little, and enjoy a few hobbies.

    But I also don’t have a car, which is a big expense for a lot of Americans. If I had to pay for a car payment, gas, insurance, and repairs on top of my other bills, I would probably need a second job.

  15. When I was young and wanted to get ahead and buy a house(which I did at age 25) I worked a full and a part time job. When I opened my new business, I worked it, and 2 part time jobs because I did not pay me from the business to start. That was 40 years ago.

    Worked my business then exclusively, retired early, and have lived the American Dream.

  16. I work on a Tugboat so I work ~182 days a year with 12 hour days. I get more days off than most people by far but compared to a 40 hour work week I work slightly more hours.

  17. It’s good to note that Finland has a [7.7% unemployment rate](https://www.statista.com/statistics/523809/finland-unemployment-rate/), while America has a [3.8% unemployment rate](https://www.bls.gov/cps/).

    For Finland: “Persons working in cultural occupations often perform project-type short-term jobs, and several simultaneous jobs are also common. Around 10 per cent of those in cultural occupations had more than one job and about six per cent of those working in other occupations in 2020.”

    [https://www.stat.fi/til/klt/2020/01/klt_2020_01_2021-06-15_tie_001_en.html](https://www.stat.fi/til/klt/2020/01/klt_2020_01_2021-06-15_tie_001_en.html)

    For America: “An estimated 7.8% of U.S. workers had more than one job as of the first quarter of 2018, up from 6.8% in 1996, according to new data unveiled by the Census bureau, which provides a more detailed analysis of multiple job holders than was previously available. The findings were based on data from 18 states.” (This is for 2018, that number may be higher now).

    [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-multiple-jobs/share-of-u-s-workers-holding-multiple-jobs-is-rising-new-census-report-shows-idUSKBN2AH2PI](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-multiple-jobs/share-of-u-s-workers-holding-multiple-jobs-is-rising-new-census-report-shows-idUSKBN2AH2PI)

    ​

    You may just not know anyone in Finland with more than one job.

  18. Here’s some stats:

    * [1.5% of American workers make minimum wage](https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2020/home.htm#:~:text=The%20percentage%20of%20hourly%20paid,(See%20table%2010.))

    * [About 5% of American workers hold more than one job, usually one full-time + a part-time](https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/employment-research/whos-working-multiple-jobs#:~:text=Only%20about%205%20percent%20of,work%20more%20than%20one%20job.)

    * [Employers are required to pay overtime pay for hours worked beyond 40 hrs/wk](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/overtime#:~:text=The%20federal%20overtime%20provisions%20are,their%20regular%20rates%20of%20pay.) (but that obviously doesn’t apply for multiple jobs) (edit: for hourly workers — see below)

    * [The US has the lowest housing-price-to-income ratio in the developed world](https://www.numbeo.com/property-investment/rankings_by_country.jsp)

    * [The US clocks in right around the middle of the OECD countries in terms of home ownership rate](https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/home-ownership-rate)

    In general though, minimum labor standards are stricter in Europe than in the US, and I think most people would broadly agree that European work culture in general is healthier in terms of work-life balance (work-life balance is a fucking insane concept, actually, if you think about it).

    That said, don’t assume that the absolute minimums are common. In a lot of cases, it’s like the minimum wage — federal minimum wage is lower than it is in most of Europe (at least relative to CoL), but only 1.5% are actually making minimum wage, either because a lot of states and municipalities have higher ones, or because they negotiate higher. (That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still raise it, for the record).

    TL;DR — it’s not that bad for most people, but it could use some work because “most people” isn’t “everyone”

  19. I don’t know what “flex time” is.

    In the US if you work over 40 hours a week and are hourly, you get overtime at 1.5x the pay.

    I work an even 40 hours a week in an office job. I started off as a temp so I was still holding onto my retail job working every other weekend, then just one weekend a month, for about a year or so. At some point I decided the stresses of the second job weren’t worth it, and that I felt secure enough in my full time job that I could quit. So Idid.

    I have at times done some gigs here and there for side money but don’t do any right now.

  20. You might be watching someone’s propaganda. In case you’re not aware, there are people that intensely dislike the US, and they might bend the truth a little to get you to adopt their views.

    There are certainly people with more than one job, but this would often be the case of 2 part-time jobs, not 2 full-time jobs. It’s not a regular thing that most people are doing most of the time. I’ve never had two jobs at the same time, that I recall. My youngest brother likely has, but he’s prone to “working the system”, being paid under the table, and other kinds of dubious propositions, if it can make him money.

  21. I’m a data engineer. I work roughly 40-45 hours per week. I only have the one job. Usually the folks who work more than one job are part time low skill workers without much formal education, but exceptions do exist. Since remote work really took off a couple years ago, there have been stories of white collar remote workers who are working more than one job, but they’re doing that because they want to, not because they need to.

  22. 40-50 hours a week, one salaried job.

    In my early 20s, I worked multiple part-time jobs.

    I’ve never commuted multiple hours a day.

  23. I average between 50-70 hours per week, luckily don’t have to have a second job because my spouse also works full time.

  25. 37.5 hours a week. Only job. Work from home so no commute. Every other Friday off plus 43 days off a year. The government has its benefits.

  27. I own a business and work 80+ hours a week. Not because I have to in order to survive, but because I am growing g faster than I can hire and train staff:

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