Currently more than 1.4 million, or 3.7 percent of Germans hold a regular second job as well as their full-time positions. In 2002, just two percent sought another source of income.
Whereas holding multiple jobs in the US tends to be an affliction of the “working poor,” most of those holding two jobs in Germany fall into the middle class and have a university education, DIW researcher Karl Brenke explained in a statement.
“Multiple jobs in Germany mainly concern specialisation and therefore the middle class,” he said.
Researchers at the Berlin-based institute found that almost half of those secondary positions were professionals taking independent contracts in addition to their full-time work. Insurance agents, university professors, teachers, journalists, physicians and lawyers were most likely to hold a secondary job, the study found.
The findings in Germany do not differ from trends among the labour force across Europe, though rates are significantly higher in the Scandinavian countries, where the numbers exceed eight percent of the population. Poland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Portugal are all above six percent. The study also showed that in other countries those with low-level educations were also less likely to have a second job.
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