Second job, second income: Why more Czechs are working on the side

A second job can mean an extra shift to cover the bills, or a consulting project that turns professional expertise into additional income. Both are helping reshape working life in Czechia, where the number of people with more than one job has increased by over half.

Around 165,000 people held multiple jobs in 2025, up from 107,000 in 2014, according to Eurostat data. They represented approximately 3.3 percent of employed people ages 15 to 64.

While financial necessity remains one reason for taking on extra work, an analysis by employment portal JenPráce.cz points to another: qualified professionals using a second job to develop their careers, build a business or earn more from their skills.

The analysis identifies two broad patterns behind multiple jobholding.

In the first, income from a main job does not cover living costs, or the position offers too few hours or insufficient stability. Additional work helps close the gap.

In the second, workers take advantage of professional opportunities beyond their main employment. These might include consulting, teaching, creative commissions, specialist services or running a business on the side.

“A second job is often seen as an emergency solution for people on low incomes. But the data show that this view is too simplistic,” said JenPráce.cz analyst Michal Španěl.

University graduates, specialists and managers can be well placed to find this additional work because they already have expertise, contacts or services that other employers and clients value.

For these workers, a second income can also provide greater independence and economic security, rather than simply compensate for an inadequate salary.

Španěl links the trend to changes in how work is organized, including the growing importance of flexibility, project-based assignments, digital services and opportunities to work partly remotely.

Those arrangements can make it easier to take on a separate project alongside a main job. At the same time, higher living costs are increasing some households’ need for additional earnings.

The two motivations can overlap: a professional may use specialist skills to bring in extra money while also testing a business idea or widening career options.

The data shows that a growing number of workers in Czechia are earning across more than one role. For some, that means keeping household finances afloat; for others, it offers a way to build something beyond their main employment.