Working on fumes

Trudging up the front steps, Sarah Hale braces herself for the shooting pain up her calves that announces the end of her work day.

The Winnipeg educational assistant (and barista, and pet-sitter, and nanny) is used to it after years of juggling different jobs as she worked to put herself through university.

But that doesnt make it any less taxing to keep up with the shifts, which can keep her on her feet for 14 hours straight during weeks when she sometimes works seven days.

I think it comes as a sacrifice to my own physical health and well-being. Its exhausting. My body hurts, the 26-year-old said, pausing to hold back tears.

You feel like youre drowning.

After graduating last year with a degree in kinesiology, Hale turned her focus from paying for classes to paying off $30,000 in student loans before going back to school to finish her education degree.

But even working so many jobs including going back to picking up regular house- and pet-sitting gigs in June wasnt enough to stop the rising cost of living from hindering those plans.

Last month, Canadas year-over-year inflation rate was 7.6 per cent. Thats a drop from the 39-year high of 8.1 per cent in June, but still means Canadians are paying significantly more for everything from groceries to gas than they did a year ago.

In a few months, Hales gas costs have nearly tripled. Her grocery budget has been forced up by at least a couple hundred dollars. Now, she makes the minimum debt repayments and crosses her fingers shell bring in a little more cash next month.

I hope the future will be much better than what it is right now, Hale said.

But I cant really think that far ahead, because theres so much work that has to get done before I get to that point.

Officially, the number of Canadians with multiple jobs is just starting to get back to normal levels after dropping during the COVID-19 pandemic. But that doesnt mean there arent more people looking for extra work as the cost of living stays high, a Winnipeg labour researcher said.

It could be that in the currently tight labour market, with plenty of unfilled jobs and few available workers, some people are getting more hours at their primary jobs, said Niall Harney, the Errol Black chair in labour issues at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Side gigs like pet-sitting also often arent captured in labour surveys because people dont think to share them, said Etienne Lal, an associate professor of economics at the University of Quebec in Montreal.

The questions that we ask in these surveys, they dont exactly fit with this type of activity, said Lal, who co-authored a recent article on multiple job-holding in the Canadian Journal of Economics.

There was a time when the money Jordan Horkey brought in from his extra jobs provided a bit of financial cushion. Maybe hed spend it on Christmas gifts for loved ones, or to help out his dad, whos on supported income.

But after months of rising costs, the income from those jobs working full-time selling insurance and part-time in retail, along with casual shifts with a sports team, a financial company and a radio station is barely enough for Horkey to cover his own expenses, even as he works 12-hour days several times a week.

Im not in a position to turn away that work, which is frustrating, the Brandon, Man., resident said.

I didnt think I was going to be here at this point in my life 32 [years old], working multiple jobs still. I thought that part of my life was behind me.

Even what was once a crocheting hobby has now become an online side hustle, which Horkey has come to depend on for cash.

It wasnt something that I wanted to necessarily do all the time, but now Im kind of having to rely on the extra income, he said.

As he watches his expenses for things like gas and groceries swell, and his bank account drain after he pays his bills each month, Horkey said his thoughts are consumed with how hes going to get by.

That means putting off expenses like getting his wisdom teeth out. He picks up more shifts when he can and is considering selling some of his belongings.

It also means less time focused on his dream of one day going to culinary school and opening a bakery in the southwestern Manitoba city he calls home and starting to wonder if that will ever happen.

Right now, its not so much chasing my dream as it is just finding a way to stay afloat, Horkey said.

But Im trying to stay hopeful. Im trying to tell myself that, you know, in the coming months it will get better.

But Lal doesnt expect to see a rush of people straining under high costs taking on extra work like Horkey has.

Thats largely because of the barriers associated with working multiple jobs, especially for people with low incomes, he said.

To take on a second job, workers need flexibility in their first one, which is more common in higher-paying jobs, Lal said.

Many people also have to drive to get from one job to the next, meaning the high price of gas can make taking on extra work costly and you might need a car to do it.

A second job may also boost a persons income past the point where they qualify for social assistance programs, which puts them further behind again, labour researcher Harney said.

Governments need to raise those eligibility thresholds to make sure that people who are taking on more jobs just to make ends meet dont then also lose the benefits they rely on to survive, he said.

Governments can also take other steps to help ease the economic burden on struggling workers, said Jesse Hajer, an assistant professor of economics and labour studies at the University of Manitoba.

That includes sending a top-up of cash to people receiving income-tested benefits, indexing assistance programs to keep up with inflation and lowering prices governments have control over, like child care and public transit, Hajer said.

Those are the type of things that governments can do in the short and medium term to help address the cost of living for people and take off some of this pressure to work those second or third jobs, which may not be sustainable from a health or quality-of-life perspective, he said.

A provincial spokesperson said in an email the Manitoba government is currently exploring additional measures to support Manitobans due to inflationary costs, but would not elaborate on what those measures are.

The spokesperson said the province has also exempted some recent one-time payments, such as one that went out to guaranteed income supplement recipients, from consideration for financial assistance eligibility.

At the federal level, Adrienne Vaupshas, press secretary for federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, pointed to Canadas recent affordability plan as an example of what the government is doing to help people who are struggling financially.

That plan includes child-care agreements with the provinces that aim to lower fees over time and more money spent on assistance programs like the Canada workers benefit.

It also includes a list of benefits that are indexed to keep up with inflation over time, including Old Age Security and the Canada child benefit.

A break would be nice, Hale said, but she needs the money and that probably wont change until after she goes back to school and finishes her education degree.

So for now, she stays focused on her dream of becoming a physical education teacher, and keeps the ibuprofen and a massage gun ready for when long work days leave her in splitting pain.

Ive just been in this mode of like, I have to work, I have to pay off my student loans, she said.

You just do it. Its not ideal. Its not a proper work-life balance.

And while she loves her jobs the rewarding feeling that comes from working with kids, the change of pace in taking care of animals working so much comes at a cost thats about more than just money.

The amount of things you have to sacrifice time with your loved ones, like birthdays, seeing your friends it just gets to a point where people are so sick of you being busy all the time, Hale said.

Its been a challenging year, never mind the pandemic on top of everything else.

With files from Andrew Wildes