‘I have no free time’: people top up wages with extra work in cost of living crisis

theguardian.com:

Every morning, Ian wakes up at 6am and does online market research surveys until his children wake up. He logs on again during his two 45-minute breaks at the supermarket where he works full time, and at night, he’ll do two more hours. He earns £5 a day from the survey rewards, but he considers it worth sacrificing his free time to maintain his family’s standard of living amid rapidly soaring costs.

Ian is one of thousands of workers who have turned to the gig economy after discovering that their full-time wages will no longer make ends meet as the cost-of-living crisis bites. Some are scouring the web to find surveys and trials offering rewards, while others are signing up to become Deliveroo or Uber drivers in their evenings and weekends.

It is not an easy decision to make. “My children always comment about how much time I’m on my phone. There isn’t much quality time for us. You start feeling the pressure that you need to be hitting those targets for the money. I’m definitely sleeping less. I don’t have any hobbies any more – I don’t have 90 minutes to watch a game of football,” Ian said. Gig economy platforms are cashing in on the demand from workers looking to top up their wages in their free time, with several platforms reporting an increase in signups since prices started rising at the beginning of the year.

Deliveroo has experienced a 36% increase in monthly active riders since January 2021, while People per Hour noted a 33% increase in UK freelance signups compared with the previous period in 2021. Uber is increasing its force of UK drivers from 70,000 to 90,000, and Fiverr data shows that 58% of UK workers have taken on extra work since the beginning of the pandemic.

A recent report from Total Jobs suggested that