Snapshots of the economy: Relentless inflation and a stagnant job market have thrust the economy to the forefront of the November midterms. In the run-up to election day, USA TODAY Money reporters fanned out across the country to examine how Americans are coping with the financial squeeze, from the gut-punch of sudden layoffs and endless job searches to the daily grind of making ends meet. This is the second piece in a six-part series.
After their regular paycheck covers rent, groceries and other bills, some Americans are clocking in for a shift at a second job or picking up work on the side.
Their day jobs keep them afloat, but side hustles create financial wiggle room in their budgets to help them save money or enjoy life at a time when, according to research from Ally Bank, inflation and the cost of living has Americans feeling “joy pressured” and guilty for spending on things that make them happy.
Side hustles also serve as a layer of protection. Workers say they have become a financial strategy – not only to support discretionary spending and their ability to save, but also as a safeguard against economic uncertainty as they fear layoffs and long, full-time job searches. For some, side hustles provide a reliable “plan B” after a job loss as economists say the U.S. labor market remains in “low-hire” mode.
“They don’t make people feel rich, but they make people feel less vulnerable,” said Shawn Carnes, a recently laid-off publicist now relying on side hustles.
Why Are Americans Leaning on Side Hustles?
Side hustles took off during and after the pandemic, when remote work gave Americans more flexibility to monetize their time. Even as more companies issued return-to-office mandates, side hustles stuck around. At 35%, more than a third of U.S. workers reported having one, or working multiple jobs, ZipRecruiter found after surveying 3,000 Americans earlier this year.
The number of entirely remote work arrangements has decreased. For many, the desire for a financial backstop has not.
Consumers are spending cautiously as they contend with high prices and higher borrowing costs after Federal Reserve officials raised their benchmark for short-term interest rates. They did so to tame inflation, but several factors outside the Fed’s control, like the Iran war, tariffs, and the AI buildout are keeping prices high.
Add to this that about half of Americans fear AI could replace them or someone in their household at work, and it becomes clearer why some are relying on side hustles for leeway to spend on non-essentials and a sense of extra security.
“We definitely need to shift the soundtrack that we have around AI to one where people are empowered and feel a sense of control,” said Jack Howard, head of financial wellness at Ally Financial. “For some people, that may be training in AI. For some people, it may be getting additional income.”
Hustling to Support Long-Term Goals
Erin Fabry, 41, thrives when she has “a lot of irons in the fire.”
She’s in a “good financial spot” working two waitressing jobs at a chain and a local restaurant in Tucson, Arizona, but she’s taken on extra work consulting, acting in commercials, and building her social media following.
You can find her upselling customers from a black coffee to a latte or helping a tile and grout services business come up with ideas to help it close sales pitches. But you may also find her memorizing lines for a local cleaning company’s ad or filming clean comedic sketches for her audience online.
After a few of her videos went viral, she thought she was “going to make so much money,” but quickly learned that despite her videos receiving more than 10 million views, she’d need more followers before she could see much profit from content creation.
“I got some links that I could share, so I made some commissions, but it was very minimal,” she said, adding that she knows she won’t make much money unless a brand reaches out. “It’s just something I’m truly doing for fun, and if it ends up profiting, great.”
Some days, her work starts in a restaurant with a lunch shift at 10:30 a.m. or a dinner shift at 4 p.m. On days she works as a consultant, it begins in the office at 8 a.m.
“It’s funny because in the restaurant world, you’re in uniform, you have to wear non-slip shoes, you’ve got your apron. You’re going to get covered in ranch at some point,” Fabry said. “On these consulting days, I’m maybe wearing heels. I’ve got my black pants on. I’ve got my blouse. I finally get to feel like I dress like a woman for a day, and then I assist with whatever they need.”
Working about 40 hours per week at her two serving jobs, Fabry typically earns between $35 and $60 an hour. With the “no tax on tips” policy in place, “that’s pretty darn good,” she said. Her day rate for consulting is $250, and a day spent filming a commercial shoot can net her about $150 or $200.
The extra income is nice; it’s helping her build up a home down payment, prepare for unexpected expenses, and save for retirement.
“Retirement is scary in the service industry because you don’t have a 401(k),” she said. “I have one from when I worked at Whole Foods. I have a Roth IRA now, but I’m hoping with a side hustle, I could do a 1099 and actually open a 401(k). Even if it wasn’t a ton of money, it would just be something that I’m able to put away.”
But the main reason she is side hustling is to open the door to other career opportunities, she added.
“The more experience that I can get elsewhere, the more likely I am to rise up and have a career outside of restaurants that may or may not require further education,” Fabry said. “It does have to do with wanting to save more money, but if I just wanted to do that, I would probably DoorDash.”
When a Side Hustle Becomes the Main Hustle
When Carnes, 59, was working seven days a week this summer, his side hustles helped him pay for dinners out. After he was laid off in September, they are helping him survive.
“I’m not stressed,” Carnes said, adding that without his side hustles, “I would probably right now or right after (the layoff) happened, be looking for another job immediately, but this enables me not to have to do that.”
Over the summer, his weekdays started with a companywide 8:15 a.m. meeting, which he usually took from home before driving to his office in Nashville, where he worked as a publicist until about 4 p.m. if he skipped lunch. Then he opened the Uber app.
“I’ll turn the app on from my office, and then I’ll know within 60 seconds if it starts pinging on my phone, I can probably make a little bit of extra money just going home,” he told USA TODAY in August.
But that routine is broken. Today, Carnes is still building relationships with clients as a publicist, but one of his side hustles has taken center stage. He wakes up most days at 5:30 a.m. and opens the app. Often, riders he drives to or from work don’t tip, but trips to and from the airport can be lucrative. He said he’s making about $4,000 a month chauffeuring people around Nashville for four to five hours, five days a week.
“I own the roads for a couple hours,” Carnes said. “I’ll get my drive time in in the morning and then I’m done with Uber for the day, and then I can focus on the other things that I enjoy.”
For Carnes, that means building his own business. He’s started an LLC and estimates that once he is legally able to compete with his old company, he will earn more working with clients directly than he made with his salary.
It also means Carnes has more energy for his other side hustles. From time to time, he works for another company that does logistics and parking management for touring artists. When a famous musician comes to Nashville, you may find Carnes directing traffic at their concerts. He’s also posting about his experiences on social media, trying out content creation as another alternate income stream, although he hasn’t profited from it yet.
“You could take two different routes,” he said. “Is your side hustle just to make extra money? Or is your side hustle what you want to be your main hustle?”
These days, Carnes is thinking the latter.
Side Work Softens Layoff Stress
Perhaps it’s a sign of how common supplemental work has become, but you don’t have to look further than Carnes’ own old office to find another side hustler.
Chloe Savage, 25, who was also laid off after first speaking with USA TODAY in August, typically worked from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. as an account lead, but the schedule was flexible enough for her to take off early on some days to babysit. With about five families relying on her, and given the rising cost of childcare, those gigs were also lucrative.
“The cost of childcare is crazy, so I make very good money doing that,” Savage said. “People really value people that they can trust with their children.”
That alternate income stream is coming in handy today. Savage was babysitting about five hours a week over the summer. After the layoff, she is caring for kids about 15 hours each week.
But like Carnes, one side hustle wasn’t enough for Savage. She also works as a spin instructor at her local gym, earning $20 for each class she teaches. Her role gets her out of paying $150 a month for the membership.
Savage said before the layoff, she earned about $70,000 annually and estimated that about 12% of it came from babysitting. Back then, she was side hustling because she loves to travel. Thanks to the money she made babysitting, she was able to afford seven trips this year.
After the layoff, Savage said she’s not planning any more vacations and has scaled back her spending. Even after taking on more caregiving gigs and signing up to teach additional spin classes, she said her income has been slashed in half.
The extra income “was always expendable for me to do fun stuff,” Savage said. “Now, it’s enough to keep me afloat and keep me where I’m not worried about if I’m going to pay rent this month.”
Unlike Carnes, Savage is back in the full-time job search. But her side hustles have gifted her “the privilege” of being picky in what opportunity she pursues next, she said.
“I’m so glad I had a backup plan where I wasn’t so just devastated and stressed out” Savage added. “I have the luxury of taking my time and really being deliberate and really mulling over where I want to work, who I want to work for, and finding that right fit because money isn’t the only reason.”
Reach Rachel Barber at [email protected] and follow her on X @rachelbarber_.
Reporting by Rachel Barber, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
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