One Job Is Better Than Two
Millions of Americans have full-time jobs that don’t pay enough to make ends meet. So they have to work a second job, too.
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Ashley Cocchiara works in a union training program for painters at a construction site, left, almost an hour and a half north of her home in Charleroi, Pa. She makes $21.55 an hour. She also pulls shifts as a bartender at social clubs in Charleroi, right, but hopes to stop that to spend more time with her 3-year-old son, Jasper, center.CreditDamon Winter/The New York Times
It’s easy for most people to find a job in America on Labor Day 2019. The unemployment rate is very low; store windows are plastered with help wanted signs.
But for millions of Americans, one job is not enough.
Bridget Hughes, 29, works a regular day shift at a Burger King in Kansas City, Mo. Three nights a week, she also works the overnight shift at a nearby McDonald’s. She makes $10 an hour at Burger King and $9.50 an hour at McDonald’s and, together with her husband’s job at a gas station, they manage to feed their three children and to pay the rent.
“When I thought of my future, I thought I was going to be at football games and soccer practices and cheerleading, when in all actuality I’m lucky if I’m home for birthdays,” Ms. Hughes said. “And my children, they think if mommy is at work all the time then we should have the money. But the reality is that I’m at work all the time and I don’t have the money.”
More than eight million people — roughly 5 percent of all workers — held more than one job at a time in July, according to the most recent federal data. The economy has been growing for more than a decade, but their lives offer a reminder that not all Americans are thriving.
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Like Ms. Hughes, most people with multiple jobs worked a full-time job that just didn’t pay enough. Most workers find second jobs in the same industry, but a growing number have taken on “gig” work like driving for Uber.
Daniel Asnake, 49, sleeps in his car after his morning shift as a baggage handler at Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C. Then he uses the car to earn as much as $145 a shift as an Uber driver well into the evening. Most days, he leaves home before his two children rise and returns after they have gone to sleep.
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Ashley Cocchiara, 30, hopes to drop her second job soon. Ms. Cocchiara, who lives south of Pittsburgh, landed a spot in a union training program for industrial painters two years ago, and as she racks up hours, her hourly pay is climbing. For now, she still picks up weekend shifts as a bartender in her hometown, to make enough money to care for her 3-year-old son. By next year, she hopes painting will pay enough so she can spend the time with her son instead.
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CreditDamon Winter/The New York Times
Daniel Asnake, 49, handles baggage at Reagan National Airport, left, outside Washington, D.C., even though a doctor told him not to lift more than 15 pounds because of a spinal injury. After finishing his shift at 12:30 p.m., he takes a nap in his car before driving Uber passengers into the evening, recently ending a shift in Silver Spring, Md., right. The two jobs allow him to support his wife, Hannah Firdawoke, who is disabled, and their two sons, Luel Daniel, 7, and Natnel Daniel, 4, center. But he often goes a week without seeing the boys.
Daysy Rodriguez
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CreditDamon Winter/The New York Times
Daysy Rodriguez, 55, outside her home in Elizabeth, N.J., left, supplements her full-time job at a warehouse, center, with part-time work promoting a Latin food company at a Food Bazaar, right. She also works overnight shifts as a home care attendant on weekends. She uses the money from her extra jobs to help her daughter pay her way through college. Her daughter is on pace to graduate next year, and once she does, Ms. Rodriguez plans to cut back on her hours. “I’ll be able to rest my body and mind,” she said. “And I hope that happens soon.”
Rich Berry
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CreditDamon Winter/The New York Times
Rich Berry, 53, at right with one of his two sons, Jared, 20, loves coaching hockey at the State University of New York’s upstate campus in Cortland. But during his 20 years as a state trooper, Mr. Berry was not allowed to be paid to do it. After retiring in 2015, Mr. Berry started drawing a salary from the university, but even with a state pension, he had to work five days a week from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Meldrim’s Paint Center in Cortland, center, and part-time as a deputy for the Cortland County Sheriff’s Department, left, to pay the bills.
Bridget Hughes
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CreditDamon Winter/The New York Times
Bridget Hughes has worked in fast food restaurants since she dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to help her mother pay the bills. Ms. Hughes, 29, works a regular day shift at a Burger King in Kansas City, Mo., left. Three days a week, she sleeps for a few hours and then heads to a nearby McDonald’s, right, for an overnight shift. Her mother, sister and brother help to care for her children, Rae’Aunna, 6, Dezmon, 7 and Tray’Von, 10, center.
Alicia Cleveland
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CreditDamon Winter/The New York Times
Alicia Cleveland, left, works as a nanny for an Atlanta family three days a week, earning $18 an hour. Ms. Cleveland, 41, would like to find a family that needs full-time help; in the meantime, she picks up odd jobs as a babysitter, chauffeuring kids to activities in her Dodge Journey. After dinner and homework with her own three children, Jaida, 9, Jordan, 13 and Jasmine, 16, center, she heads back out to drive for Uber and Lyft, often starting on a trendy strip of restaurants near Georgia State University, right.
Produced by Sarah Eckinger.
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Binyamin Appelbaum joined the Times editorial board in 2019. From 2010 to 2019, he was a Washington correspondent for The Times, covering the Federal Reserve and other aspects of economic policy. He has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in public service. @BCAppelbaum • Facebook
Damon Winter is a staff photographer currently on assignment for Opinion. He received the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography.
A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 2, 2019, Section A, Page 24 of the New York edition with the headline: One Job Is Better Than Two. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/01/opinion/working-two-jobs.html
