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Multiple Job-holding Remains High in N.D.

The reasons for holding multiple jobs are varied and include part-time work, low wages, limited benefits, underemployment and seasonal work, such as agricultural employment.

While North Dakota had the third lowest unemployment rate in the nation in 2008, it also had the highest multiple job-holding rate, with 9.7 percent of employed residents working more than one job in 2008.

“This is a marked increase from the previous two years, when our multiple job-holding rate was a full percentage point lower,” says Richard Rathge, director of the North Dakota State Data Center at North Dakota State University.

Nationally, 5.2 percent of all employees held multiple jobs in 2008, which is unchanged since 2006.

This month’s “Economic Brief,” a monthly publication from the State Data Center, focuses on individual state multiple job-holding rates using data from the Current Population Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The reasons for holding multiple jobs are varied and include part-time work, low wages, limited benefits, underemployment and seasonal work, such as agricultural employment.

In 2008, South Dakota recorded the second highest multiple job-holding rate at 9.5 percent, followed by Vermont at 8.9 percent and Minnesota at 8.8 percent. All seven states in the West North Central Division (North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri) continue to register rates above the national average.

Since 1994, North Dakota has ranked among the top nine states with the highest multiple job-holding rates in the nation.

The lowest multiple job-holding rate in 2008 was recorded in Nevada at 3.7 percent.


NDSU Agriculture Communication

Source:Richard Rathge, (701) 231-8621, richard.rathge@ndsu.edu
Editor:Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.edu

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