- Some Americans secretly work multiple remote jobs, but it’s possible that many of them are men.
- It’s another example of how the impact of remote work on women’s pay has been mixed.
- Although remote work has kept women in the workforce, it can come with lower wages.
Some Americans earn several hundred thousand dollars a year by secretly working multiple remote jobs. But many women haven’t been able to take advantage of this benefit of remote work.
Remote work has helped women advance toward equal pay, but it has had a mixed impact on women’s career advancement.
On the one hand, remote work has allowed more women to stay in the workforce when they might otherwise be forced to leave due to childcare demands. On the other hand, Evidence suggests that remote jobs often pay less than in-person jobs, hinder career advancement, and can lead to burnout, particularly for women who assume household responsibilities during working hours.
At the same time, remote working has made professional juggling easier, but this lifestyle appears be dominated by men. This is partly because men make up the majority of technology and IT workers. These roles are more likely to offer a combination of remote work and job flexibility that makes overemployment possible, ” current and former job jugglers told Business Insider.
Over the past year, Business Insider has spoken with more than 10 job jugglers who used their six-figure incomes to pay off debt, plan for early retirement and take lavish vacations. But almost all of them were men.
Business Insider compiled expert analysis to determine whether overemployment is truly male-dominated, how prevalent it is in the United States, and what the impact of remote work is. on women’s professional development and what policies could help women achieve equal pay.
Women’s relationship with remote work is both beneficial and harmful
Women are working at near-record levels, and the growth of remote work in recent years is a major reason why.
“The expansion of remote work has allowed an estimated one million women in their 30s and 40s to remain in the workforce at an age when previous generations might have stopped working to take on family and care responsibilities children,” Aaron Terrazas, Glassdoor’s chief economist, previously said. Insider.
Men and women work from home at very similar rates, but there is some evidence that remote work is even more prevalent among women.
For example, a study by Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom found that in the first half of 2023, American women aged 20 to 64 worked from home for about 29% of paid workdays, compared to 27% of men. .
There is even evidence to suggest that women working remotely are more likely than men to take on additional jobs.
In an analysis of 2022 and 2023 Current Population Survey data provided to Business Insider by Sarah Small, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Utah, Small calculated that among full remote workers or hybrids, approximately 7.8% of women and 7.2% of men. reported having held more than one job.
However, Small said she was unable to determine whether these workers had two full-time roles and whether both were remote. It is possible, for example, that many of these women have a remote job and a second, part-time, non-remote job.
In February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that 386,000 Americans… less than 1% of the American working population – were working two full-time jobs simultaneously, but it is not clear what proportion of these people were working two remote jobs.
Fewer women are overemployed because they are underrepresented in technology positions
Nicole, a Washington-based millennial who told Business Insider she’s on track to make nearly $100,000 in combined income this year from two remote program manager jobs, said she thinks there are far fewer overemployed women than men.
Her main theory to explain this: Women are underrepresented in tech jobs.
“I see technology as the biggest area of overemployment, which is a male-dominated field,” said Nicole, whose identity is known to BI but has been kept secret due to her fear of professional repercussions. “I’m a woman and I don’t work in tech and I figured that was why I was having less success getting the second job.” She said it took her almost a year to find a second, part-time job.
At the end of 2023, women represented 35% of technology jobs in the United States, according to WomenTech Network, a global organization that works to increase diversity in the technology industry. While some tech companies have called their employees back to the office, many have allowed their employees to continue working remotely, giving them the option to take on a second or third job if they choose. Last fall, about a quarter of U.S. households had at least one person working remotely at least one day a week.
“Some more masculine fields, like technology and finance, have very high WFH levels,” said Stanford’s Bloom.
Nicole said technical positions are one of the few professions that combine remote work arrangements and flexible schedules that are often necessary to continue and maintain overemployment. Many job jugglers interviewed by Business Insider have worked in the technology and IT industries.
“It’s very easy for people — especially tech people — to have multiple jobs,” Wall Street forecaster Meredith Whitney told Business Insider. “And I think that’s what they did.”
Differences in the roles and expectations of men and women could also deter some women from juggling their jobs. In 2019, American women shouldered 78% of unpaid household tasks such as childcare, laundry and cooking, according to a report commissioned by the Department of Labor and conducted by economists at Bard College.
“The data certainly suggests that working mothers have less free time than working fathers and that they spend significantly more time on household chores and caregiving,” said Utah’s Small.
Even if widespread remote work would allow more women to remain in the workforce, there are still opportunities some barriers to equal pay, Small said.
“I think remote work alone is not enough to close gender gaps,” Small said. “We would really need more flexible work schedules, paid parental leave and more accessible child care to see substantial change.”
Do you work multiple remote jobs at the same time and want to discuss the details of your salary and schedule? If so, contact this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com.
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