side job

{{Short description|Additional job providing extra income}}

{{redirect|Side hustle}}

File:Uber ride Bogota (10277864666).jpg is a common side job.{{Cite news | url=https://sidehustles.com/side-hustle-survey-2024/ | title=Side Hustle Survey: New Insights About Independent Workers Entering 2024 | last=Scanlon | first=Victoria | website=SideHustles | date=December 3, 2023}}]]

A side job, also informally called a side hustle or side gig, is an extra job that a person takes in addition to their primary job in order to supplement their income. Side jobs may be done out of necessity, when one's income from their main job is insufficient to support them, or simply out of a desire to earn more income or to try something interesting. Working a side job can also informally be called moonlighting, usually when it is performed after normal working hours. A side job can be a full-time job, part-time contract, or freelance work, and a person can hold more than one side job.{{cite news | url=https://www.businessinsider.com/earn-extra-money-with-these-21-high-paying-side-jobs-2019-6 | title=21 high-paying side jobs you can do in your spare time | first=Erin | last=McDowell | work=Business Insider | date=June 28, 2019}}

A person's "day job" is defined as "a job that you do to earn money so that you can do something else that you prefer but that does not pay you much money."{{Cite web |publisher=Cambridge Dictionary |title=day job |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/day-job}} Side jobs are typically tasks that can be completed on a part-time or freelance basis at the same time as having a day job. Examples include copywriting, ecommerce (such as selling products on Amazon), affiliate marketing, providing social media marketing services, freelance web design, foreign language lessons or translations, tutoring or coaching, graphic design, freelance writing, and business management.

Side jobs have become more prevalent in the U.S. because of wage stagnation and low wage growth that have not kept up with the rising cost of living.{{cite news |title=The Con of the Side Hustle |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/06/opinion/sunday/tax-day-side-hustle.html |date=April 6, 2019 |last=Quartz |first=Alissa |newspaper=The New York Times}} One in three U.S. adults say they require a side job to pay for basic household expenses.{{Cite web |url=https://www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/side-hustles-survey-june-2019/ |title=Survey: 39% have a side hustle, and 44% believe they'll always need one |last=Gillespie |first=Lane |date=May 24, 2023| website=Bankrate}} Nearly 39% of all Americans report having a side job, with 57% of New Yorkers needing one to make ends meet.{{Cite web |last=Team |first=NY Bet |date=May 17, 2023 |title=Hustle or Bust: Over Half of New Yorkers Need a Side Gig to Survive |url=https://ny.bet/news/over-half-of-new-yorkers-need-a-side-gig-to-survive-research/ |access-date=January 26, 2025 |website=NY BET |language=en-US}} In 2019 in the UK, 60 percent of students and graduates reported having a side job, and 43 percent required it to pay renting expenses.{{Cite news |first=Abigail |last=Fenton |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/two-in-five-young-brits-rely-on-side-hustle-to-make-ends-meet-131602647.html|title=Two in five young Brits rely on 'side hustle' to make ends meet |website=Yahoo! Finance |date=November 22, 2019}}

The most common reason workers take on side jobs is to obtain additional disposable income. The side job can also be a means to pay off student loans, or to leverage one's creativity in ways that would normally not be feasible in the traditional workplace.{{Cite news |url=https://www.courant.com/the-thread/hc-thread-millennials-side-hustles-20191114-evog6kedxjcadd6oqgegpuczae-story.html | title=Tales from the 'side hustle generation': Meet the Connecticut millennials working multiple jobs to pay the bills | last=Vallejo | first=Camila | work=Hartford Courant | date=November 14, 2019}} Millennials were the most likely to have a side job, often to provide a financial "safety net",{{cite book |title=Multiple Streams of Income: How to Generate a Lifetime of Unlimited Wealth |last1=Allen |first1=Robert G. |url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471714550/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0471714550 |date=5 April 2005 |isbn=978-0471714552}} leading them to be labeled the "side hustle generation". However, Gen Z has surpassed Millennials as the generation with the highest rate of side jobs.{{cite web |title=Side hustle statistics for 2025: Key data, trends, and what they mean |last=Alexandrea |first=Jordana |website=Hostinger |url=https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/side-hustle-statistics |date=May 22, 2025}}