Multiple Job Holding in the United Kingdom: Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey

1
Multiple Job Holding in the United
KingdomEvidence from the British Household
Panel Survey

• Zhongmin Wu (Nottingham Trent University)
• Mark Baimbridge (University of Bradford)
• Yu Zhu (University of Kent)

2
Motivation

• In 2001 10.5 of workers moonlight (BHPS)
• Officially 27.5 million workers in 2001 (ONS)
• It is estimated that 2.9 million workers
  moonlight
• Who moonlight and why do some people choose to
  moonlight?

3
Hypothesis One

• An individuals willingness to take a second job
  depends on whether he can work enough hours at
  his prevailing primary wage rate to satisfy his
  income goals
• Main
  job hours constrained
• Shishko, Robert Rostker, Bernard (1976)
• The Economics of Multiple Job Holding,
• American Economic Review, 66(3) 298-308

4
Hypothesis Two

• Another explanation for moonlighting behaviour is
  that labour supplied to different jobs may not be
  perfect substitutes or, put differently, the wage
  paid and utility lost from the foregone leisure
  may not completely reflect the benefits and costs
  to working
• Conway, Karen Smith Kimmel, Jean (1998)
• Male Labour Supply Estimates and the Decision
  to Moonlight, Labour Economics, 5(2) 135-66

5
Hypothesis Three

• An individual may hold a second job if they
  believe that their main job has a high risk of
  termination. Therefore, multiple job holding may
  be a response to perceived job insecurity and may
  be a hedge against unemployment
• Main job
  insecurity
• Bell, D. N. Hart, R. A. and Wright, R. E. (1997)
  Multiple Job-holding as a Hedge against
  Unemployment, Centre for Economic Policy Research
  Discussion Paper No.1626

6
Five questions relating to an individuals
second job were asked by the British Household
Panel Survey (BHPS)

• Do you currently earn any money from a second job
  or from work that you might do from time to time
  apart from your main job?
• What is it that you do?
• Are you an employee or self-employed?
• How many hours do you usually work a month in
  your second job, excluding meal breaks but
  including any overtime you might do?
• Before tax and other deductions how much did you
  earn from your second and all other occasional
  jobs in the last calendar month?

7
Figure 1
Source Wave 1 to 11, the British Household Panel
Survey
8
Figure 2
Source Wave 1 to 11, the British Household Panel
Survey
9
Figure 3
Source Wave 1 to 11, the British Household Panel
Survey
10
The theoretical model
11
The theoretical model
12
The theoretical model
13
Independent variables incomes

• hourly wage rate for second job
• 3c
• hourly wage rate for main job
• - for women
• annual non-labour income
• --

14
Independent variables job satisfaction

• satisfied with total pay
• --- for men 3c
• satisfied with job security
• (not significant) h3
• satisfied with work hours
• h1

15
Independent variables Characteristics
in their main jobs

• Permanent
• h3
• Public sector
• h3
• Full time
• --- tm

16
Personal or family characteristics

• minutes spent travelling to work
• --for women
• number of children in household
• (for men) --- (for women)
• the person is married
• ---for women
• age at date of interview
• ---

17
Education

• first higher degree and teaching qualification
• GCSE
• A level
• Other higher qualification

18
Location

• Southeast
• Southwest
• Eastern

19
Occupation

• Agriculture, Education, Health, Community and
  Household encourage moonlighting.
• While female workers from transport are more
  likely to moonlight, male workers from transport
  are less likely to moonlight
• -- for men for women

20
Year dummy variables

• Overall, moonlighting increased in 1996, 1997,
  1998 and 1999 for men
• For women it increased in 1996 and 1997 but
  decreased in 2001.

21
Conclusion

• Evidences do not support that moonlighting is due
  to main job hours constrained.
• Sathour 70
  J2wagegtJbwage
• Evidence provide no support for the hypothesis
  that multiple job holding may be a response to
  perceived job insecurity.
• Satsecurity
  Permanent
• The incentive for moonlighting in the United
  Kingdom is due to financial pressures and having
  heterogeneous jobs.
• 89 two different jobs J2wage
  Satpay -