Moonlighters, the missing labor force
Abridged: The Seattle Times
October 17, 2005

CHICAGO, IL -- Nearly 7.6 million Americans straddle two or more jobs and must find time to work, sleep and live somewhat contorted lives in a very full 24 hours. Most workplace moonlighters do it because they want or need extra money to pay bills, according to a U.S. Labor Department survey. Less than a third take on the added burden because they enjoy it or want to try another job.

Those who specifically need the extra work to pay bills are most often women who take care of their families, and divorced, widowed or separated workers. Moonlighters' share of the American work force climbed to 6.5 percent in the mid-1990s and has been shrinking ever since, reaching about 5.3 percent in recent months, government figures show. One possible reason why there are fewer moonlighters is that people have simply quit the job market, frustrated over the lack of good-paying jobs.

However, citing the most recent government statistics, the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank in Washington, said workers' wages only fell by just under 1 percent in the past two years, when adjusted for inflation. "We think there is a missing labor force," said Larry Mishel, an economist and the head of the Economic Policy Institute.