More South Africans turn to side hustles – including middle-income earners
More young South Africans have turned to side hustles over the past six months to earn extra income, new data from online market research company InfoQuest/TrendER shows.
“Approximately one in four individuals aged 18–34 are holding down more than one job, which is an increase on six months ago when we last monitored this,’ said Claire Heckrath, Managing Director of InfoQuest.
The latest survey also established the incidence of hustling in other age groups. Those in the 35–49-year-old age category had the lowest level of hustling at 15%, while about one in five of those aged 50 years and older indicated that they were earning income from more than one source.
Those earning personal monthly incomes of R5,000–R10,000 were more likely to be hustlers (28%), and 15% of respondents in the higher personal monthly income group of R40,000 and more, claimed that they received regular income from more than one source.
‘Tough economic times and financial stress are making it necessary for South Africans to seek additional job opportunities to supplement their incomes.
“Younger individuals may be more willing to do this as they have fewer responsibilities and have more time on their hands, but we are also seeing that older South Africans are engaging in the ‘hustling’ trend. We will continue to monitor this over the next year,” said Heckrath.
A survey conducted by the firm in September found that one in five working South Africans is either actively making inquiries about leaving the country or are already on their way out the door.
The survey sampled a relatively small grouping of 300 working South Africans, where 5% of the respondents said they have already applied for residency in another country, have been accepted and will emigrate soon.
A further 14% of the survey respondents said they are seriously thinking about emigrating and have made inquiries or submitted applications – while one in three say that they have thought about emigrating but have not taken any action yet.
Around half the respondents said they are happy to remain in the country and have not thought about leaving.
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