MOONLIGHTING: Is it the new norm for Gen Zs?

IN the Philippines, the unemployment rates within the country have been on the rise as of late, reaching up to 4.5% in September and then 4.4% in August. As of August this year, there are 2.21 million jobless Filipinos in the country.

In addition to this, it was also found that there was a decline in the number of people looking for more working hours as a means of increasing their income, which Inquirer notes may indicate better job quality.

Despite this, a large portion of Gen Zs have started to take up two or even more jobs, juggling a secondary source of income on top of their regular 90-to-5 jobs, otherwise known as moonlighting. 

Many of them, for example, open up online shops which they operate outside of working hours. 24-year-old Karsten Baricuatro, for example, is a Financial Advisor during the day and a Medical Transcriptionist at night, while 23-year-old Cleeo Navarro works mainly as an HR Assistant, but also has a side job checking students’ papers. 

Why the desire to take on more than one job? For Navarro and Baricuatro, the main reason is simple: money. 

Navarro, for example, started working as an assistant to different teachers in 2018, wherein she would bounce from teacher to teacher and from school to school, grading student’s papers and providing corrections on their essays and answer sheets. 

While this was enough when she was a Senior High School student, only covering things like food and school necessities, she found that there were more and more things she had to pay for as she grew older. 

“It became obvious it wouldn’t be enough to cover my goals, such as studying for my Master’s Degree [and] funding whatever I needed for my licensure examination,” she explained.

“With the current state of the economy and the way things are going, sometimes even having three jobs isn’t enough.” 

Day and night

Originally, Baricuatro graduated with a degree in BS Medical Laboratory Science in January 2023, then got a license as a Financial Advisor in April of the same year. 

As a Financial Adviser, though, he found that it wasn’t a reliable source of income given that his earnings were based on commissions and incentives. This is why, after finishing his board exams, he felt the need to get a second job so he’d have a more stable job in addition to his current one. 

This is why, later on, he got a job as a Medical Transcriptionist, wherein he scribes and does charts for doctors he’s endorsed. Currently, he earns around 6 digits monthly, which he uses to pay for his bills and other daily expenses.

For Baricuatro, the idea of working only one job is scary, given that you can lose it at any given moment.

He added: “I even think I need more than just the two sources of income if I aspire for something greater for the future of my family and myself; we’re in a country where inflation is insanely high, while the wage is almost not enough for one to survive alone.” 

Baricuatro isn’t alone in these sentiments. He has many friends who are also working two or more jobs, which he attributes to today’s generation being driven by personal goals and influences found via social media. 

21-year-old Roschaela Oabel, a Freelance Writer and a Virtual Assistant started working as a way to earn money for herself as well as her family, given that they have many financial burdens and worries, especially since her brother is still in school. 

“Because of the economic burdens and barriers the country is facing, living comfortably feels like we’re [in] an everyday battle trying to look for ways to sustain our needs and wants while also sustaining our daily lives,” she said.

“Kudos to those who are working multiple jobs, but this just opens a new problem as to how the government should act in providing necessary means for those working more than one job.” 

Different generations, different priorities

As more and more Gen Zs have started to enter the workforce, there has been a shift in priorities, with things like a healthy work environment being prioritized above all else. 

Compared to other generations, Oabel feels that Gen Zs are pickier when it comes to finding jobs, especially since social media is more popular now and many companies are slowly becoming more flexible with their conditions and work setups. 

“Working from home, paid internships, better company values – Gen Zs are more demanding [of] these kinds of benefits because we want to set a standard for ourselves when we commit to a full-time job, and we want to set boundaries and understand what we need from [these] companies,” she said.

“Instead of just [taking] what’s there and not [complaining,] we demand better conditions not only for ourselves but for everyone. 

For Oabel, it’s not enough for a job to pay well; the work culture and working conditions within the office matter too. She finds that it’s pointless to work at a job that brings down your morale the longer you stay. 

Navarro shares the same sentiments, saying that some Gen Zs often try to find a healthy middle when it comes to looking for jobs, which most corporate offices don’t offer. 

She added: “I wouldn’t consider it as being picky, per se. [Just] more aware of what they want and look for, and I feel as if some companies don’t like that.”

She feels, though, that more often than not Gen Zs do look at whatever job pays the most, which probably isn’t exclusive to just their generation. 

She notes that now more than ever, the world demands to be paid, and with the country’s economy being the way that it is, people who hope to be a part of the corporate world often prioritize how much they can be paid for the time they spend working.

When looking for work, Navarro focuses on finding a non-toxic work environment to ensure that she can work better, seeing as she’s comfortable and open with the people she works with and the tasks she’s assigned.

Not a want, but a need

Among the three people interviewed, a consensus was reached: that a healthy work environment is often just as important as your salary, if not more. 

But while more and more Gen Zs are starting to learn the worth of the hard work that they do, it seems that corporate offices aren’t doing the same, hence why many of them have to seek other forms of employment just to be able to keep up with their daily expenses and the constant price increases within the country.

“Anyone has the right to pick which job they want to do, especially if they have the education, experience, and work ethic to back it up,” said Baricuatro. 

“We all value our skills and time we offer to the job we wish to be a part of, [and] anyone will always choose a job where they feel comfortable [as well as] where they will grow not only professionally, but as a person [too.]”

One can only hope that, in the future, the values of both parties will start to align and that everyone will be given what they justly deserve.