A panel study of the consequences of multiple jobholding: enrichment and depletion effects

This article contributes to research on the embeddedness of multiple work arrangements in the employment biography. We investigate transition and duration effects of multiple jobholding on financial and non-financial job outcomes, and the role of flexible work arrangements and household contexts. To that end, we examine panel data from Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands for the period between 2002 and 2017. The findings underscore the importance of economic factors in the decision to work multiple jobs and reveal that labour market contexts play a significant role in outcomes. Findings furthermore indicate negative well-being effects for those who have both multiple jobs and children. For a substantial share of workers, holding multiple jobs occurs in relatively short-term episodes, posing the question of whether episodes of multiple jobholding necessarily come with either clear enrichment or depletion effects, or are merely a phase in the overall employment biography.