1 in 6 Job Seekers Is Already Working Multiple Jobs
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As of the fourth quarter of 2025, nearly 16% of active Indeed job seekers were already holding more than one job while they searched. About 1 in 6, concentrated in hourly, shift-based work. Food preparation and service topped the list at almost 17%; delivery drivers were the number one individual job title at nearly 5%; nursing assistants and customer service reps followed at around 3.5% each.
The most striking detail is how these workers doubled up. The most common pairing among multiple jobholders is the same job twice. The top combination was a nursing assistant working a second nursing assistant job. The next was a licensed practical nurse plus a licensed practical nurse. After that: bartender and server. As Indeed economist Cory Stahle put it, these workers are picking up a second job that looks a lot like their first.
The application data tells you why. In the month before someone transitions into holding multiple jobs, their activity spikes to about three times the normal rate. After the second job starts, the searching slows down, then picks back up about six months later, suggesting the second job eases the immediate pressure without resolving the underlying problem. “A workforce that is increasingly doubling up is a workforce under quiet, persistent pressure,” Stahle wrote.
The BLS puts multiple jobholders at just above 5% of the total workforce. Indeed’s 16% runs higher because they’re measuring workers who are actively applying, capturing far more of the people for whom one job has stopped being enough. As Stahle framed it: “In a labor market where hiring has slowed and quits have fallen, a growing share of workers have found that the way to keep moving may not be by finding a better job, but by finding another one.”
From where I sit working with hourly and service-sector employers, this is a roadmap. There’s a large, motivated pool of workers applying hard right now. The employers who win them are the ones offering enough hours, predictable scheduling, and a reason to consolidate down to one job. Most of these workers would take steady full-time hours over a second part-time grind without much hesitation. Very few employers are actually making that offer.
53% of Americans Worry AI Will Cost Their Household a Job
A Reuters/Ipsos poll of 4,531 U.S. adults, conducted June 3-8, found that 53% are worried AI could put them or someone in their household out of work. 37% said they’re unconcerned. The worry spread fairly evenly across age, gender, and education, but split along party lines: 61% of Democrats expressed concern compared to 47% of Republicans.
Broader AI anxiety is rising too. 73% of Americans said they’re worried about increased AI use overall, up from 68% in a similar 2023 Reuters/Ipsos poll. The heaviest users are also the most worried: 50% of college graduates report using AI regularly, compared to 34% of those without degrees.
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Weekly Claims Rise to 229,000, Still Below Last Year
Initial jobless claims for the week ending June 6 came in at 229,000, up 4,000 from the prior week’s 225,000. The four-week moving average climbed to 219,000. The insured unemployment rate held at 1.2%, and total people collecting benefits stood at 1,795,000, down from 1,947,000 at this point last year.
229,000 is low by historical standards. We’ve been bouncing in the low 200s for months, and claims are running below where they were a year ago. The four-week average moving to 219,000 bears watching in the coming weeks, but a single uptick doesn’t change the picture.
Two state-level flags worth a bookmark. Minnesota and Tennessee both cited layoffs in educational services, partly seasonal as schools close, but worth tracking as districts manage tighter budgets. Federal civilian worker claims rose to 553, up 89 from the prior week. A small number today, but the kind of line that signals whether government workforce reductions are starting to register. The pattern that’s held all year still holds: a labor market where employers are keeping people but staying cautious about adding them.
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