Moonlighting used to be considered a sign of poor financial planning, an admission that one’s current salary wasn’t enough to live off. Or perhaps it was and had just been squandered on frivolities. A second job was considered the professional equivalent of grade school remedial classes.
But not for Gen Z, for whom side hustles aren’t just common, but coveted. Forty percent of Gen Z, the oldest of whom are now 26, say they made money from both a job and a side hustle, according to a survey from consulting firm EY. There’s both a norm and a cool factor to it, EY Americas’ cultural insights and customer strategy leader Marcie Merriman tells Fortune, as Gen Z pushes to rethink workplace norms by not devoting themselves entirely to their careers while navigating a cutthroat job market that’s left them afraid for their financial futures.
