JobKorea Survey of 636 Office Workers
Men Prefer Delivery and Courier Jobs, Women Prefer SNS Management and Sales
[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] One in three office workers has been found to seek side jobs to run alongside their main jobs. Men mostly worked as delivery or courier drivers, while women were more involved in social networking service (SNS) management and sales positions. The average monthly income earned from side jobs was recorded at 524,000 KRW.
According to a survey of 636 office workers conducted by the recruitment platform JobKorea, 34.7% of respondents said they were engaged in side jobs in addition to their main jobs. By gender, 37.3% of men had side jobs, 4.0 percentage points higher than 33.3% of women. By age group, workers in their 30s had the highest rate at 42.4%, followed by those in their 40s at 40.0%. In contrast, those in their 20s, who are busy adapting to work life, had a relatively low rate of 29.5%. By marital status, married individuals had a higher rate at 44.4% compared to 32.8% for singles.
The types of side jobs varied somewhat by gender. Among men, 22.7% worked in delivery-related side jobs such as courier and delivery services, the highest proportion. This was followed by blog and SNS management and sales (21.6%), store management and sales services (19.3%), delivery sorting and food packaging (13.6%), and document production (12.5%). For women, blog and SNS management and sales was the highest at 32.3%. Next were store management and sales services (16.5%), design-related production (12.0%), shopping mall operation (11.3%), and photo and video production (10.5%). Notably, more women than men engaged in barista and bakery-related side jobs.
The main reason for having side jobs was economic necessity. Specifically, "to earn additional income" (57.9%) recorded an overwhelmingly high response rate. Other reasons included "to utilize free time after work or on weekends" (23.5%), "due to having more free time from remote work" (19.5%), "to share professional knowledge and talents in hobbies or areas of interest" (18.6%), and "for future career development such as a second act in life" (10.4%).
The average monthly income from side jobs was 524,000 KRW. By income range, the highest response rate was 20.4% for "average 300,000 to less than 500,000 KRW." This was followed by "average 200,000 to less than 300,000 KRW" (19.5%) and "average 500,000 to less than 700,000 KRW" (17.2%). The most common time for side jobs was "evening after work," with a response rate of 39.8%. Other times included "weekends" (20.4%), "working intermittently during remote work" (18.6%), "early morning" (11.3%), and "night or dawn" (8.1%).
Regarding the frequency of side jobs, "1 to 2 days per week" was the most common at 39.4%, followed by "3 to 4 days per week" (20.8%) and "irregular" (20.4%). The time invested per side job session was mostly "within 1 to 3 hours" at 41.2%, followed by "within 3 to 5 hours" (26.7%), "within 1 hour" (13.6%), and "more than 8 hours" (10.0%).
Excluding the main job, having one side job was most common at 67.4%. Two side jobs accounted for 24.9%, about two out of ten people. The form of side jobs was mostly "working from home" at 55.7%, followed by "commuting to workplace" (36.2%) and "remote work" (free work without spatial restrictions, 8.1%).
A JobKorea official said, "As companies increase the implementation of flexible work systems and remote work, more office workers are using their free time to find a second job. Beyond simple money-making, more people are seeking opportunities to express their interests and talents through side jobs, and it is expected that having one or more jobs, known as 'N-jobbers,' will become the new normal."
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