Balancing Act Between Jobs
More and more Romanians are working two or more jobs
Christine Leșcu, 13.12.2022, 18:23
After the Great Resignation, which occurred in Romania too, another post-pandemic episode is unfolding now in the country: more and more Romanians are working two or more jobs. A recent online poll from the job search platform eJobs confirms it. Ana Calugaru is communications officer for the platform, and gave us details:
“The economic context in the last two years — I am referring to the pandemic and the war, but also the explosion in inflation this year — made many Romanians look closely at the idea of a career and financial stability. 2022 was indeed a year with a record rate of employment, the highest in the last 20 years, and we saw salary increases in almost all areas of activity. In spite of all this, the poll we ran in this area showed us that more long term jobs are needed, and this is the reason why as many as 70% of respondents got a second job. 8.2% of them took this step for a short period of time, because they needed the money for a costly acquisition, which they could not afford at a given moment. 6.7% said that this is the way they had been operating their entire working life, even though they had always been working, and plan to continue to do so. 10.7% of respondents, mostly young ones, said that their first job was not sufficiently demanding, so they had the time to get a second, while 5% said that they wanted a change of career. The latter respondents said they decided to get two jobs, at least for a time, until they could determine which one was best for them.”
One quite surprising finding in the poll is the high percentage of middle aged people willing to work several jobs. Young people between 19 and 25 were only 7.4% of respondents. Most people with two jobs were between 36 and 45 years of age — almost 29% – while almost 22% were between 46 and 55. Therefore, people with families, children, and fairly high expenses are the ones that feel the need for additional sources of income. But, given the fact that these are family people, how much time is left for them to spend with their loved ones? Here is Ana Calugaru:
“Asked what they thought the most difficult thing was when you juggle two jobs, six out of ten mentioned keeping a balance between work and personal life. We are talking about the time that they have to dedicate to their jobs, and the fact that there is physical and emotional wear, which cannot be avoided, and makes them work at less than full capacity. For a quarter of respondents, it is very difficult to manage the time they dedicate to their jobs. 10% say that it is very complicated to have full performance at both jobs. Therefore, it is no surprise that 40% of the respondents said that, the moment that one of their jobs would properly cover monthly expenses, they would give up a second job.”
Even though most respondents would prefer for the two job situation to be temporary, there are situations in which this could last for years. Such is the case with Silvia, an editor with a culture magazine, at also an artistic consultant with a major theater in Bucharest. Lets listen to her talk about it:
“Ive always had side gigs. I dont know if you could call them jobs as such. This second job, with the theater, Ive had for six years, so basically Ive had two jobs for six years. Before that, before getting the theater job, Ive had other things on the side. I worked various theater festivals, I translated books, I did editing and proofreading. It is obvious that the financial aspect is quite problematic in the cultural press. Here, salaries are quite small, and when you are young you have some specific needs. All sorts of related problems crop up, and the lack of a satisfactory income affects creativity somewhat as well. You cannot sit at the top of your ivory tower to create and have poetic and artistic ideas when the bills are piling up. But it was not the financial aspect that drove me. I liked learning new things all the time. The cultural press helped me discover various areas, and get to know lots of people.”
Some of them became Silvias friends, and, because they have similar work schedules, they can spend free time together. In fact, having a flexible schedule at the magazine, she could juggle between the two jobs without much difficulty, and she told us how:
“At first it was much more interesting and nicer, and it seemed to me that I can manage my life better. Right now I can say it is quite difficult. I have very little time for my personal life, precisely because theater activity is concentrated in the second part of the day and in the evening. When you get home, you have precious little time for yourself, you may watch a movie and the next day you start over. The only good thing, which balances somehow this shortcoming, is that your friends, willy-nilly, work in the same area, so that they have the same pace of life and flow. This means that, when you finish work at the theater, you go out with them. If my friends were working in another domain, my social life would be virtually nil.”
We asked Silvia how things have been after this period of very high inflation:
“Up until last year, or maybe up until the pandemic started, I could have said that the financial aspect was quite good. I think things have plummeted this last year in all areas of our lives, once prices started going up. Salaries stayed the same, and right now I am barely holding on to the edge. I cant afford a third job. It is already very frustrating when you realize that you are doing everything in your power to make a decent living for yourself, and you still end up on the edge financially. At first I wanted a second job so that I would no longer live from one salary to the next. That meant that, if something unexpected came up, it would not upturn my situation, that I would have a safety fund. But right now, given what I earn, I live month to month, and that only if something unexpected doesnt suddenly appear.”
According to the eJobs platform poll, most of the respondents about second jobs were working in the private sector.
