More Canadians punched multiple clocks, but little changed in job vacancies

Employers in Canada were looking to fill 959,600 positions in the third quarter (July to September) of 2022, down from the all-time high of 992,200 vacancies reported in the second quarter.

Alongside the nearly 1 million vacancies were a comparable number of multiple jobholders. Nearly 1.1 million Canadians held at least two jobs in 2022, down 2.5% from the all-time high observed in 2019, and representing about 5.5% of the nearly 19.8 million Canadians who were employed in December 2022.

The number of people working more than one job has risen steadily over the years. A recent Statistics Canada study found that the proportion of multiple jobholders increased from 5.0% in 1998 to 5.7% in 2018. This proportion declined slightly to 5.5% in 2022, but was more than two and a half times what it was in 1976 (2.1%).

There were 966,000 Canadians that reported working multiple jobs in 2021. By the fall of that year, most major COVID-19 pandemic support programs had ended. In 2020, when many businesses were forced to close their doors either permanently or temporarily, there were 809,100 multiple jobholders, a low not seen since 2004.

Most recently, who were those workers punching multiple clocks in 2022, and how busy were they? Here are the numbers by multiple jobholders’ primary sector of work.

The sectors

Of the nearly 1.1 million multiple jobholders in 2022, 940,300 of them (86.8%) worked primarily in the services-producing sector, and the regular line of work for the other 142,600 (13.2%) was in the goods-producing sector.

The 211,800 Canadians working in health care and social assistance accounted for nearly one-fifth (19.6%) of all multiple jobholders in 2022—the highest proportion among all sectors—up from 193,400 in 2021 and down from 220,000 in 2019.

There were 139,700 workers in the wholesale and the retail trade sectors that also held at least one other job in 2022; followed by 122,400 in educational services; 91,900 in professional, scientific and technical services; 70,700 in accommodation and food services; and 62,900 in information, culture and recreation.

A variety of hours

Two-thirds (66.2%) of all multiple jobholders in 2022 usually worked a total of more than 40 hours per week at all jobs, with many working 50 or more hours (40.9%). Further, one in five multiple jobholders (14.2%) worked a more standard number of hours, totalling 30 to 39 per week.

A smaller share (14.0%) of multiple jobholders worked the equivalent of part-time hours, totalling 1 to 29 hours per week at all their jobs, most of whom clocked 15 to 29 hours. People who worked part-time in 2022 did so for a variety of reasons. Of the nearly 3.6 million Canadians who gave a reason for choosing part-time work, over 3 in 10 (31.8%) were going to school. Over one-quarter (27.4%) said their choice was personal preference, while close to 1 in 10 (8.5%) indicated they were caring for children. Another 5.5% reported other personal or family responsibilities being the reason, while 2.7% said they could not find full-time work after looking for it in the last month before being surveyed.

Age and gender

In 2022, the proportion of people working multiple jobs was similar among employed youth aged 15 to 24 years (6.0%) and core-age 25- to 54-year-olds (5.8%). Workers aged 55 years and older (4.2%) were least likely to work multiple jobs.

Continuing a trend observed since the early 1990s, women made up the majority (55.0%) of all multiple jobholders in 2022 and comprised 47.6% of total employment. Among core-aged workers, 6.6% of women held multiple jobs, compared with 5.2% of men. This gap was wider for female youth (7.6%) and male youth (4.4%).