NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
January 20, 2000
North Dakota had the second-highest multiple job-holding rate in the nation in 1998, according to the recent Economic Brief released from the North Dakota State Data Center at North Dakota State University. Only Minnesota, at 10.8 percent, had a greater percentage of people working multiple jobs than did North Dakota, which registered 10.6 percent. Nebraska and Kansas also had rates greater than 10 percent, putting these states in the same category as Minnesota and North Dakota--well above the national average of 6.3 percent.
"This news should be taken very seriously," said Richard Rathge, data center director. "Multiple job-holding is symptomatic of the causes behind underemployment. People typically holds multiple jobs when their wages are too low to maintain a certain standard of living, or if their primary job is part-time or it lacks certain benefits such as health insurance.
"Underemployment also reflects a mismatch between jobs and skills or training. Regardless of the specifics, we need to meaningfully address our state's high proportion of multiple jobholders. Failure to do so will result in the loss of more population, as these individuals leave the state because of frustrations or economic necessity, neither of which we can afford."
Multiple job-holding rates in North Dakota varied by age, gender, marital status and education. For example, 6.4 percent of employed men ages 15 to 24 held multiple jobs, compared with 13.2 percent of females ages 15 to 24. In contrast, 18 percent of elderly men (65 and older) held more than one job, compared with 8.3 percent of elderly women. Single women tended to hold more jobs, on average, than single men, Rathge says. Also, 11 percent of people with a high school diploma, or higher, held multiple jobs, compared with 7.6 percent of those with less than a high school diploma.
In 1998, multiple jobholders in North Dakota worked an average of 46.8 hours per week, up from 42.4 hours per week in 1996. The majority of multiple jobholders in North Dakota had some education beyond high school, with nearly 10 percent having a master's degree or higher. The majority of North Dakotans working more than one job were between the ages of 25 and 44, averaging 38.8 years.
Multiple jobholders in North Dakota earned on average $330 per week in 1998. Rathge says nearly 5 percent held three jobs or more.
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Source: Richard Rathge (701) 231-8621
Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136
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