While working remotely during the pandemic, many Gen Zers grabbed the opportunity to hold down multiple jobs—or polywork—often behind their employers’ backs. But now baby boomers have taken a leaf out of Gen Z’s book.
New research shows that they’re now the generation most likely to be pulling a second or third after-work shift.
The remote-working services platform Startfleet analyzed U.S. labor statistics and found that some 1,303,000 people aged between 55 and 64 worked multiple jobs at once in 2023.
The study notes that the age range has a small overlap with Gen Xers but that the majority are baby boomers.
Gen Z is the second most likely generation to be working two jobs (or more) at once.
However with 700,000 people young people polyworking, that’s still barely more than half the number of baby boomers turning to secondary jobs.
Previous research showed that Gen Z in their masses were turning to side hustles, economy gigs, and secondary full-time jobs during the pandemic.
At the time, baby boomers were the least likely generation to be taking on extra work. So, what’s changed?
Baby boomers have ran out of cash
Instead of winding down, research has consistently shown, there’s a growing cohort of senior workers who are unretiring. But Startfleet’s research adds more color to the picture: They’re not just dusting off their suits and returning to work, they’re doing even more work than those starting out in their careers.
It’s a trend that Lewis Maleh, CEO of the global recruitment agency Bentley Lewis, says he has witnessed.
“People are doing what they need to do to survive,” he tells Fortune. “With the rise in inflation and the cost of living increasing in most places in the world, it’s not surprising that for the vast majority of people, retirement is just a dream.”
While previous retirees may have been able to bank on their offspring to support them later in life, Maleh highlights that that is no longer the case.
“With wages not keeping up with the cost of living, very few families can do this now. Elderly care, in the U.K. for example, is way too expensive and if you’re a young adult just making enough for your first deposit it’s hard enough.”
To top it off, Amy Foster, an operations and talent director at the talent solutions firm Rockborne, points out that boomers have also dished out much of their wealth to support their children: “Whether that be with childcare costs, getting a foot on the property ladder or via the bank of Mum and Dad.”
“Any of the challenges faced by younger generations, such as affording housing or nursery fees, for example, percolate into the generations above and are having a knock-on effect on their parent’s saving plans,” Foster adds.
Now, she says they are “eager to ‘bullet-proof’ themselves for when they retire” and “trying to find ways to top up their income.”
Filling the gap with multiple jobs
Another reason why baby boomers may be taking on extra work is because they’re not earning quite what they used to—yet their outgoings aren’t going anywhere.
“Some members of that generation are having to work multiple jobs due to late-career redundancy, and a need to replace previous income,” Euan Cameron, CEO of the global video recruitment platform Willo, tells Fortune. “Often that can’t be achieved through a single job at that stage of their career.”
Cameron adds that many baby boomers have developed an expected lifestyle and standard of living over decades, and as the cost of living has risen significantly, the lifestyle they have become accustomed to—including multiple vehicles, large properties, and plentiful holidays—is no longer affordable.
“There is an urgency and necessity to bridge the gap to maintain what they are used to,” Cameron adds.
Plus, as Matt Collingwood, founder and managing director at VIQU Recruitment highlights, notes, senior workers today are more likely to be granted permission to work from home—and some are using the time saved from not commuting to earn more money.
“I know a developer who has a remote full-time job from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and then he contracts his expertise to a company a couple of days per week for two hours 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.,” he tells Fortune.
“Other professionals I know work multiple part-time contracts—this allows them flexibility, but they are still earning good money to support their financial planning, and they get the opportunity to work with multiple stakeholders, which gives them mental stimulation.”