It’s no fucking secret that young Aussies are struggling to keep up with the cost of living crisis, and a recent report has added to the grim picture that is their struggle.
According to a report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the number of Aussies who held multiple jobs has increased. The new report found that in March 2023, 947,300 Aussies were multiple job-holders, which is a 2.1 per cent jump from December 2022.
It is also noted that before the COVID-19 pandemic, the statistic of Aussies with multiple jobs stayed between five to six per cent, but in March 2023, the rate was at a “series high” of 6.6 per cent.
The data presented that young Australian were more than likely to be juggling multiple roles, with 8.9 per cent of people aged 20-24 and 7.9 per cent of people aged 15-19 doing more than one job.
Sarah Ramantanis, the co-chair of Australia Youth Affairs Coalition, told ABC News that she’s seen the rate of young people with multiple jobs increase post ‘Rona.
“It’s hard for young people to even have stable employment in just one role, so they’re always needing to seek more than one or two avenues of revenue so that they can live day-to-day lives,” Ramantanis told the publication.
“One of the biggest things we’re seeing is obviously lack of confidence, not feeling that strive and ambition and positivity to go out there and follow their ambitions.”
But despite the grim reality of it, Ramantanis says, “Young people are hustlers”, and they will do anything they can to have a positive future.
Are we surprised by the data? Not at all, but it just shows how fucked things have gotten.
I remember I got to a point where I had to recycle plastic bottles and cans every week just to have some extra dosh because the pay that I was getting didn’t cover much of my needs.
We’ve seen endless amounts of Young Aussies on TikTok discussing cozzie livs and how it’s impacted all necessities like housing and groceries.
We’ve also seen Aussies resort to “hacks” to stay warm during the winter because of rising electricity bills via our TikTok series Cold Homes.
At this point, I’m just gonna live a ~van life~ but then again, petrol prices are also fucked. We can’t win.
