With her laptop open, Ms X’s class is in session – except that the school teacher is not holding court in a classroom like she typically does, but working her second job giving tuition to students online.
With a take-home pay of about $3,000 a month as a teacher, Ms X said she has also been working as a full-time tutor for a tuition company since 2020 to make ends meet.
She told The Straits Times she is her family’s sole breadwinner and needs the money from another full-time job to support her young children and elderly parents, who require a caregiver.
“Their medical expenses come up to a few hundred in some months... $3,000 is simply not enough,” she said.
The woman in her early 30s is one of many individuals in Singapore who are “overemployed”. The term, which emerged when the US economy slumped during the pandemic, refers to people who are employed full time in more than one job.
While generations of low-wage workers the world over have held more than one job just to get by, the phenomenon of overemployment refers broadly to white-collar workers. The other distinction: Many take advantage of the flexible or remote working opportunities thrown up by the pandemic to carve out a second career.
Statistics from the Ministry of Manpower published in January 2023 show that 3.1 per cent of the workforce was employed in multiple jobs, on a part-time or full-time basis. This is down slightly from a 10-year peak of 3.5 per cent in 2021.
In September 2022, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said in Parliament that there were 53,200 Singaporeans employed in two or more jobs, on a part-time or full-time basis. Half of them earned a monthly salary of less than $1,500 from each job.
But the phenomenon of overemployment also raises legal and ethical questions about the practice.
Denne historien er fra December 02, 2023-utgaven av The Straits Times.
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Denne historien er fra December 02, 2023-utgaven av The Straits Times.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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