COVID-19 lifestyle and side jobs

With people spending more time at home due either to work at home policies or being furloughed, it’s perhaps not surprising that some are looking at side jobs, the subject of this COVID-19-related survey from MacroMill.

Side jobs actually used to be banned by many companies until about a year or two ago when there was a big push to allow it, although I cannot remember what the driver for this national policy change was…

I suppose this is my side job, although if I counted up my income and expenditure it’s a money pit…

On the other hand, since I don’t need to commute, I can do much more overtime, so overall I’m better off thanks to the pandemic.

Ranking result

Q1: How has COVID-19 affected your income and expenditure? (Sample size=2,169)

	Income	Expenditure
Increased	3.1%	28.9%
Not changed	65.7%	51.3%
Decreased	31.2%	19.8%

Q2: Due to COVID-19, do you worry about your future lifestyle? (Sample size=2,169)

Feel worried	76.8%
Don’t feel worried	10.5%
Don’t know	12.7%

Q3: What are the good things about COVID-19 causing you to spend more time at home? (Sample size=2,169, multiple answer)

Have more time to myself	25.3%
Have more time with my family	21.3%
No commuting stress	16.7%
Have more sleep time	16.6%
Can take time to eat	10.8%
Other	5.0%
Don’t think there’s anything good about it	15.7%
Time at home hasn’t increased	33.0%

Q4: What have you started doing since having more time at home? (Sample size=1,454, those with more time at home, multiple answer)

Tided up, rearranged my room	27.3%
Cooking, making sweets	15.6%
Exercising	15.5%
Side job, gig work, online points	10.5%
Studying, getting qualifications	8.4%
Making handicrafts	6.7%
Saving, actively managing investments	6.2%
Helping family, friends	6.0%
Looking for another job	4.3%
Other	5.7%
Nothing in particular	39.3%

Q5: What side job, gig work have you started doing? (Sample size=113, those doing, have done side jobs, gigs, etc multiple answer)

Selling on fleamarket apps	33.6%
Investing	29.2%
Crowdsourcing	16.8%
Affiliate	15.9%
Net shop	14.2%
Consulting	12.4%
Video, live broadcasting (YouTube, etc)	11.5%
Creating online courses	9.7%
Delivery (Uber Eats, etc)	7.1%
Babysitting, etc	4.4%
Other short-time odd jobs	10.6%
Other	5.3%

Q6: Does your fulltime job permit side jobs? (Sample size=1,980)

Yes	23.7%
No, forbidden	45.6%
Don’t know	30.8%

Q7: Do you currently have a side job? (Sample size=2,169)

Yes	14.3%
No (to SQ1)	85.7%

Q7SQ1: Are you interested in a side job? (Sample size=1,859)

Yes, plan to start soon, or registered on site (to SQ2)	2.5%
Yes, got interested due to COVID-19 (to SQ2)	12.2%
Yes, been interested since before COVID-19 (to SQ2)	38.6%
No, not interested	46.7%

Q7SQ2: Why did you become interested in side jobs? (Sample size=1,182, multiple answer)

	Have side job	No side job
Want to increase income	52.2%	46.3%
Want extra pocket money	34.6%	44.1%
Want to increase savings	30.9%	34.6%
Want to use my free time	23.5%	20.8%
Can do work I’m good at, like	20.6%	13.4%
To cheer myself up	12.9%	10.1%
Want to try various jobs	11.0%	8.9%
Want to home my skills	11.0%	9.9%

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 27th of July 2020 2,169 members of the Smart Answer monitor group between the ages of 20 and 59 who identified as businesspeople completed a private internet-based questionnaire. No further demographics were provided.