NEW YORK CITY, New York: With salaries stagnating and living costs climbing, a growing number of Americans are turning to multiple jobs to safeguard their finances. Some are adding side gigs for extra income, while others are stacking two, three, or even four roles — a trend increasingly described as "polyworking."
For 29-year-old Katelyn Cusick, the shift began with the desire for variety and a need to make ends meet. She works full-time as a visual merchandiser for Patagonia and manages social media influencers for a German shoe brand for 10-15 hours a week. She also runs an Etsy shop selling her paintings and ushers at concerts in the San Francisco Bay Area to see live shows for free.
"Every day is different and every day feels like a new day," Cusick said. "That is ultimately why I started doing all these side hustles, just because I wanted to switch it up. I don't want just to do the same thing every day."
The additional earnings help Cusick cover student loan payments and cope with the high cost of living, which is made worse by her flat wages for years.
Economists say Cusick's situation reflects broader anxieties. Workers navigating inflation, slow wage growth, and fears of layoffs are increasingly unwilling to rely on one employer. Many are taking on app-based jobs through platforms like Uber or Grubhub, or building "portfolio careers" made up of several more minor roles.
"We have seen stagnant salaries, we've seen inflation, we've seen the cost of living overall increasing, even beyond our inflation measures," said Alexandrea Ravenelle, a sociologist and gig-economy researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "So people are looking for ways to supplement and to build themselves a little bit of a safety net."
Career experts say multiple jobs can also help workers expand their skills. In Cusick's case, managing influencer partnerships keeps her marketing knowledge fresh. Elaine Chen, director of the Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts University, said many workers now see careers as non-linear. "Some people are putting together multiple side hustles based on their skills and interests and making the money work by having multiple revenue streams," she said.
Others pursue side ventures rooted in personal passions. Josie White, 31, works full-time as a fundraiser for Shelter the Homeless in Salt Lake City, but channels her own mental-health journey into public speaking. She began volunteering to address groups and conferences about schizoaffective disorder, hoping "to reassure people that there is hope and a light at the end of the tunnel." After gaining experience, she has booked 10 speaking engagements over the past year, four of them paid. "It's starting to snowball," White said.
Some workers gravitate toward gig jobs that provide immediate income. Tom Ritter of Syracuse, New York, used Instacart and Walmart's Spark platform to add a few hundred dollars a month to his paycheck as a workforce management specialist — money that became essential when he lost his full-time job. "For me, even that extra couple hundred dollars a month went a long way," Ritter, 39, said.
But researchers warn against over-reliance on gig platforms. Ravenelle noted that such work can carry a stigma with employers and that platforms often adjust algorithms to reduce workers' earnings. "The house always wins when it comes to the gig platforms," she said.
Experts also caution that side-hustle seekers should be skeptical of online promises of fast money, many of which are promoted by influencers selling classes or equipment rather than real opportunities.
Polyworking can also strain personal time. White works 40 to 45 hours Monday through Thursday, then devotes Fridays to preparing talks and finding new engagements. "I wouldn't describe my life as balanced," she said. "But am I enjoying it? Yes. And I think that matters."
