{"id":17429,"date":"2025-06-28T13:18:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T13:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=17429"},"modified":"2025-06-28T13:18:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T13:18:13","slug":"debt-is-a-growing-force-influencing-jobseekers-choices-expert-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=17429","title":{"rendered":"Debt is a ‘growing force’ influencing jobseekers’ choices, expert says"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n

Svetikd | E+ | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Many Americans are carrying debt \u2014 and for some, the liability is influencing their career choices and job hunting behaviors.<\/p>\n

“Debt is a growing force behind why people take certain jobs, stay in roles longer than they’d like, or hesitate to make a career pivot,” said Priya Rathod, a career trends expert at Indeed, a job posting site.<\/p>\n

About 38% of survey respondents said they took on a second job to pay their debts, according to a new report<\/a> by Zety, a resume templates site. A similar share, 37%, said they accepted jobs outside their industry or positions they weren’t interested in just to repay their outstanding balances.<\/p>\n

About 37% owe less than $10,000, the site found. However, about 20% owe up to $25,000 while for 10%, the balance is as high as $100,000.<\/p>\n

What types of debt survey respondents have varies. Most, or 71%, said to have credit card debt, per Zety data, while 37% have mortgage debt, 30% have an auto loan and 23% have student loans, among other kinds of debt.<\/p>\n

The survey polled 1,005 U.S. employees on April 12.<\/p>\n

More from Personal Finance:<\/strong>
Student loan borrowers face ‘default cliff’ as late payments climb
How the GOP budget bill targets immigrant finances
FEMA is not a ‘replacement for insurance coverage,’ expert says<\/p>\n

The data shows that surveyed workers may not be earning enough to meet their financial obligations, and in some cases, fund their aspirations, according to Jasmine Escalera, a career expert at Zety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If it weren’t for their debt, 17% of respondents said they would start a business, go back to school or freelance, per the report.<\/p>\n

“Their financial status is impacting not just them in terms of their work and their 9-to-5, but also those life goals,” Escalera said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a>Second jobs ‘driven by necessity’<\/h2>\n
\n

When workers begin to search for side hustle or second job, it’s often because their wages are not keeping up with their cost of living or financial obligations, experts say.\u00a0<\/p>\n

About 52% of polled workers said they have a side hustle in order to make ends meet, according to Indeed data provided to CNBC. In mid-May, the site polled 1,256 U.S. adults who are employed full time or part time, or seeking employment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

The decision to take on a second job may also come out of fear for the state of the economy, Rathod said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

About 46% of respondents said they’re concerned about being laid off in the next year, so they want to make sure they are able to protect themselves by working side jobs, Indeed found.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s driven by necessity,” said Rathod.<\/p>\n

But picking up extra work can come with trade-offs, such as feeling burnout or stress, she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a>Growing your income is ‘a long-term strategy’<\/h2>\n
\n

While taking on a second job for more income may sound like a viable solution to pay down debt, consider asking for a raise or seeking a promotion in your current job first, experts say. If that doesn’t work, there are other steps to consider, like pivoting to a higher-paying role or new industry.<\/p>\n

“People really need to understand that working more hours is a short-term solution, and growing your main income is a long-term strategy,” Rathod said.<\/p>\n

If you’re noticing that wage growth is slowing down in your company or industry, it may be difficult to get a raise, said Rathod. Instead, negotiate for parts of your total compensation, such as the flexibility to work hybrid or remote, more stock options, wellness benefits or a stipend for continuing education.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Otherwise, consider applying to a new role that pays more, whether internally or in a new company, or switching to a different industry that has better growth prospects, Rathod said. For example, someone who works in sales could apply those skills in a variety of fields, like health care, which is growing.<\/p>\n

In May, nearly half of the job growth came from health care, which added 62,000 jobs, according <\/a>to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.<\/p>\n

Think about how your skills can transfer to roles in a new sector, or find ways you can “upskill” \u2014 to expand <\/a>your existing abilities, per LinkedIn \u2014 to get your foot in the door, Rathod said.<\/p>\n

If you still believe that you need an additional source of income rather than a new role, think about the skills that you already have and what you’re good at, experts say.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also make sure that the additional hours do not interfere with your primary source of income and other areas of your life, Escalera said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Svetikd | E+ | Getty Images Many Americans are carrying debt \u2014 and for some, the liability is influencing their career choices and job hunting behaviors. “Debt is a growing force behind why people take certain jobs, stay in roles longer than they’d like, or hesitate to make a career pivot,” said Priya Rathod, a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[196],"tags":[2759,367,725,540,2720,7070,7071],"class_list":{"0":"post-17429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-finance-news","8":"tag-choices","9":"tag-debt","10":"tag-expert","11":"tag-force","12":"tag-growing","13":"tag-influencing","14":"tag-jobseekers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}