While the nation’s employers reported adding 353,000 jobs in January, a new survey of 80,000 small-businesses owners may show why: many Americans are apparently taking second and even third jobs to make ends meet.
According to the February edition of the Freedom Economy Index, a survey conducted by PublicSquare and RedBalloon.work showed nearly 40% of small-business owners who were polled say 30% or more of their workers took on a second or third job.
“Wages and spending power are being undercut by inflation, so there’s a lot of people working two or three part-time jobs just to survive,” said RedBalloon CEO Andrew Crapuchettes.
“And that’s not showing signs of changing anytime soon,” he warns.
The report also gave other interesting insights into how Americans are working lately, with nearly 40% of employers seeing their workers “job hopping” from one company to the next.
For the small businesses in California, just 13% reported being happy keeping their doors open there: 67% are considering a move or wish they could but can’t afford it.
Over 70% of the owners polled say crime has become a major factor for their business, with 32.2% saying crime has “increased significantly” and 38.2% reporting it has increased “slightly” where their businesses are located.
In fact, 1 in 4 say they’ve either closed a location (1.4%) and/or moved (3.6%) as a result, and more than 22% of small-business owners say crime has led them to consider moving their operation.
Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.