Weekend jobs ditched for gig economy

Emma Finamore
Last updated 16 Jan 2019

Ask any millennial about their first ever job and most will tell you about the hardships of working in retail or putting up with unreasonable diner’s requests. ‘Saturday jobs’ were once the go-to for young people looking to earn extra cash whilst studying; with hairdressers, shops and restaurants all being popular choices.

Traditionally, weekend jobs have always been entry-level positions that didn’t require any prior experience, making them ideal for a young person starting out or looking to simply supplement their social life through college or university. The nature of a ‘Saturday’ job also meant that many found themselves sacrificing time they’d otherwise spend on socialising, studying or pursuing other ventures.

With the rise of the gig economy and the shift to more flexible working set-ups, it seems we’re starting to witness the end of the humble Saturday job as the only way for the younger generation to earn extra income.

Though research by Airtaske r suggests that an overall 69% of Brits know very little to nothing about the ‘gig economy’, the younger generation seems to be more in the know. 58% of 18-24 years old have a better understanding of the gig economy compared to generations before them including 35-44 year olds (39%) and 45-54 year olds (25%).

Another recent study by OneFamily also states that the amount of teenagers with a part-time job has halved since their parents’ generation and 66% of that pool are now ‘earning money from doing odd jobs or work with no set hours’.

The gig economy not only provides a more flexible working set-up for those interacting with it, it also creates a mass of earning opportunities that didn’t exist before – which is exactly what makes it so appealing to the younger workforce.

The appeal of the gig economy and platforms like Airtasker is strong among young Brits, for a variety of reasons. Not only do they have more flexibility to spend their time socialising or pursuing other personal and professional ventures, there’s also a significantly higher amount of opportunities for them to earn. Alongside more established skills like DIY or gardening, there are 1,000s of Taskers on the site earning money from completing odd-jobs like petsitting, voice-over recordings or even waiting in line for theatre tickets.

Here are some of the average earnings for the more popular job categories:

Pet Sitting and Care: average task fee – £70 per job
Cleaning: average task fee – £50 per job
Gardening: average task fee – £60 per job
General DIY tasks: average task fee – £60 per job
Ironing: average task fee – £35 per job

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