New Report Finds Staggering Underemployment Among Hourly Workers

ARLINGTON, Va., April 20, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Snag (formerly Snagajob), the largest platform for hourly work, released its annual State of the Hourly Worker Report today, shining light on a record number of employed Americans not making a living wage. Findings reveal 38 percent of workers earning $20 or less an hour consider themselves underemployed. The report defines the underemployed as those who are currently employed hourly or rely on gig work as their primary source of income, but still need more hours to make ends meet.

For the underemployed one job often isn't enough to cover basic living expenses and they are twice as likely to accumulate debt. The majority (80 percent) of underemployed workers are willing to work multiple jobs to get the hours they need, though 74 percent would prefer to work a single full-time job. More than half (54 percent) of underemployed workers are actively searching for a better full-time job, and a third (32 percent) are already working a side hustle such as Uber or Lyft to supplement their income.

"Hourly jobs account for nearly 60 percent of the American workforce and 94% of net new job growth is hourly. People need to wake up. Underemployment is a big problem," said Peter Harrison, CEO of Snag. "It's deceiving. Most see unemployment hovering around 4 percent as a signal that Americans are well employed and thriving, but this is simply not the case."

The underemployed need more work than they receive at their part-time jobs, but sustaining a second or third job can be difficult when shifts are unpredictable. Schedules often vary from week to week, forcing hourly workers to live paycheck to paycheck. Every week, 40 percent of underemployed workers see their schedule fluctuate by five hours. One in five (21 percent) get less than a day's notice before a schedule change.

Other notable findings reveal:

• Women account for 70 percent of the underemployed compared to 30 percent of men.
• Half of Millennials (52 percent) are underemployed followed by nearly a third (29 percent) of Gen X.
• Nearly half of restaurant workers (47 percent) consider themselves underemployed followed by retail workers (41 percent) and hospitality workers (38 percent).
• Of the underemployed, one in four work over 35 hours a week.
• On average, full-time workers make $3 an hour more than their part-time counterparts and receive more perks and benefits including paid time off, health insurance and 401K.

For its State of the Hourly Worker Report, Snag surveyed 2,100 hourly workers across all industries making $20 or less per hour. Check out the report and infographic to learn more.

About Snag
Snag (formerly Snagajob) is the largest platform for hourly work with 90 million registered hourly workers and 450,000 employer locations nationwide. With Snag, employers staff up faster, hire smarter and keep shifts filled. Snag's platform for hiring and managing teams allows people to land the right work while ensuring employers find the right workers when and where they need them. Snag's flexible work platform, Snag Work, launched in 2017 and provides a network of workers the opportunity to select the shifts they want, when they want, from a variety of employers and locations, and helps employers optimize their shifts. To learn more, visit snag.co and @snag on Twitter.

SOURCE Snag