Non-Technical Summary:
The economic progress experienced by the Philippines in the recent years has resulted in lower unemployment rate, but proportion of workers having low quality jobs still remained high. In this case, more workers are engaging in non-standard employment arrangements such as multiple job holding. Although this type of employment is often characterized by informality, job insecurity and precarious work conditions, there are also non-standard employment arrangements that are structured and flexible which could be beneficial to workers. Hence, empirical evidence about non-standard employment arrangements is essential in order for policy makers to create policies that help these types of workers experience upward economic mobility.
In this study, we investigate on the relationship of multiple job holding and economic mobility. We distinguish constrained and non-constrained multiple job holders based on the notion that workers’ freedom to choose quality jobs is affected by constraints in household income. Furthermore, we use income and occupational mobility as indicators of economic mobility.
Using the merged panel data from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey and Labour Force Survey, we find that a fraction of employed individuals in the Philippines in 2003-2009 hold multiple jobs. However, half of them were doing it not by choice, but out of necessity to sustain decent standard of living. Despite of this, this practice does not translate to upward economic mobility. In particular, workers who are more likely to take on multiple jobs are males, mostly heads of the households, less educated, agricultural workers in rural areas, underemployed and workers from the bottom income class. Results further suggest that multiple job holders who belong to upper income class are more likely to improve their income mobility. These results, in the general context of non-standard employment arrangements, indicate that policies involving improvements in the the working conditions of workers relying on non-standard jobs should be in place.
For future studies, it is recommended to examine multiple job holding in the agriculture sector, focusing on the interaction between the “push” and “pull” factors and how these factors affect an individual’s economic mobility prospects through multiple job holding.