Any young adult is well acquainted with the dreaded question from an intrusive aunt or grandparent: What do you do for a living? These days, the answer to said question often resembles a list like the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker—although the 21st-century version might have a dog walker who also serves as a nanny and drives for Uber—a brand that’s after all become a gig-economy shorthand.
Study after study this year has found that more Gen Zers and millennials, faced with high economic uncertainty and financial anxiety, have been picking up extra gigs in order to make ends meet. A new analysis from Bank of America adds weight to the narrative, but finds that these side hustles aren’t really cutting it.
Gig work overall has accelerated since the pandemic began, BofA finds, especially among younger workers. Millennials are side hustling the most, with 4.3% receiving income from gig work as of August. Gen Zers followed suit at 3.6%. While these might seem like low percentages, it’s more than double what it was six years ago for both generations (granted, most of Gen Z had yet to enter the workforce at that time). But despite the slight uptick in gig work, BofA data shows their credit and debit spending growth is still slower than that of baby boomers. In other words, young adults are working extra but spending less—indicating they still have little discretionary income left after paying the necessities.
“When we started the year, Gen Z and baby boomers were spending at a similar pace. But as the year goes on, you’ll start to see this divergence,” Anna Zhou, economist at Bank of America Institute and the report’s author, tells Fortune. “The younger generation is actually pulling back in terms of spending versus a year ago, but for baby boomers, they’re still spending at a level that’s higher than a year ago.”
This suggests that they’re facing relatively more financial stress, Zhou explains. “The younger end of the spectrum is feeling relatively more constrained than their older counterparts,” she adds, noting that the economy and labor market are still strong, but there’s a “relative weakness among the younger generation.”
Wage slowdown pushes young adults into gig work
The early pandemic ushered in the initial surge in gig work, with workers taking advantage of the demand for delivered food and groceries, Zhou tells Fortune. Now, it’s a different beast—the name of the game is wage moderation. “Our theory is that as wage inflation moderates elsewhere, these workers feel like they might need to take on additional gigs, or just work in other jobs that will give them more money,” she says.
Many gig workers hold traditional jobs in the retail and restaurant sectors. Over the past couple of years, there was a high increase in wages for these industries as companies tried to retain and recruit during the Great Resignation. But as the labor market normalizes, wages stagnate. “In short, lower wage growth in both of these sectors might mean more workers need to take on a side gig,” Zhou writes in the report.
Younger generations are more hit by this wage snapback because they’re in a more vulnerable life stage, early on in their careers and wealth-building journey. That means they’re also more likely to need extra relief from gigs since they’re often moving around, Zhou says. “They’re more likely to be exposed to rising cost of living,” she adds, explaining that the biggest component is housing. “Homeownership for them is low, they’re likely to move around, which will expose them to a higher rent.” There’s also the added pressure of student loans resuming, especially for millennials, she notes.
It’s why that even with these added streams of income, Gen Z and millennials still aren’t spending much; these jobs are simply giving them what they need to get by. But it also might mean that these young adults are taking their extra income and putting it into savings in order to keep up with their early pandemic habits. Entering the workforce during or after the coronavirus recession and dealing with a high-inflation economy has left these generations a little more budget friendly; separate data from BofA researchers shows that they’re cutting down on nonessential expenses like dining out in favor of cooking.
The typical consumer “accumulated a lot of savings during the pandemic, which has been one of the main sources of very strong consumer spending,” Zhou says. While that savings has been drawn down over the past two years, she says that consumers’ checking and savings account balances show the current savings level is still around 40%, higher than what it was in 2019. That’s all to say, consumers across all income cohorts still have a bit of a buffer.
After experiencing an economic shock, people typically balance out spending their savings while pulling back spending in certain areas so they can still keep money in the bank, Zhou explains. That’s what millennials and Gen Zers are doing. “They have money in the bank account, they are gradually drawing down, but at the same time, they are being a little bit more cautious on what they’re spending,” she says. “And that’s why you see this kind of bending growth lag relative to baby boomers.”
