{"id":44356,"date":"2025-10-23T14:19:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T14:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/employmenthero.com\/uk\/?post_type=news&p=44356"},"modified":"2026-02-03T17:05:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T17:05:22","slug":"gen-z-dual-employment-on-the-rise","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/employmenthero.com\/uk\/news\/gen-z-dual-employment-on-the-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"How Gen-Z Became the Most Resilient Generation in the UK Job Market"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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After a year of fragility, the UK job market is finally showing signs of balance. For <\/strong>young people<\/strong><\/a>, however, that picture is a little murkier.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unemployment is rising across the board, according to the Office for National Statistic\u2019s (ONS) labour market data<\/a>, this month reaching a four-year high driven largely by that cohort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liz McKeown, Director of economic statistics at ONS, points out that while \u201cthe falls we have seen in both payroll numbers and vacancies are now levelling off\u201d, not all ages are experiencing this period of recovery the same way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fragile recovery, but not for everyone<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With mere weeks to go until this year\u2019s Autumn Budget, the ONS data<\/a> shows that payroll employment is beginning to level off. Between July and August, it rose by 10,000, while provisional estimates for September show a 10,000 month-on-month fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, as McKeown notes: \u201cWe see different patterns across the age ranges with record numbers of over-65s in work, while the increase in unemployment was driven mostly by younger people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some respects, this bleak narrative around younger workers today is justified. Job vacancies have declined for the 39th consecutive quarter, falling to around 717,000<\/a> in between July and September this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wages Cooling and Competition Rising<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Wage growth has cooled too –  to 4.4% to be precise – making it the slowest in a number of years. This slowdown comes as inflationary pressures ease but costs of living challenges remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It means younger workers are facing much harsher competition for fewer roles, and the pressure to settle for lower-quality or lower-paid jobs may intensify. Employers, meanwhile, are becoming more selective, often prioritising experience and flexibility, which disadvantages new entrants still finding their footing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rise of Dual Employment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

91±¬ΑΟ\u2019s figures paint a similar story of hardship for younger people in the workforce, even among members of Gen-Z who are employed. September\u2019s data shows that 42% of this age group<\/a> have taken on two jobs, compared to 21% of all employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This kind of dual employment isn\u2019t just about survival – it\u2019s a structural adaptation to a less forgiving labour market. Side gigs, while not necessarily a sign of ambition, also offer flexibility, giving people capacity to respond to fluctuating primary job prospects, buffer against income shocks, and build alternative revenue streams to compensate for slower wage growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Struggle to Strength<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yet, there\u2019s reason to believe that Gen Z\u2019s struggles today could set them up for long-term strength. Forced to navigate a tougher market, they\u2019re becoming more agile, digitally fluent, and confident in figuring out how to diversify their income. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may not look like it now, but their embrace of side hustles, portfolio careers and constant upskilling may make them more adaptable to the changing world of work than any generation before them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In learning to survive without guarantees, they\u2019re building the kind of creativity, self-reliance and skill that future economies will demand. In the end, that hard-won talent could leave them better equipped than the rest of the workforce when stability returns.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the UK job market stabilises, Gen Z faces new pressures. With wages cooling and roles harder to find, more young workers are taking on multiple jobs to cope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":430,"featured_media":44358,"template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_visual_mode":"business","exclude_from_algolia":false,"author_id":70413,"reading_time":"2 min read","display_reading_time":false,"homepage_thumbnail":0},"categories":[277],"tags":[],"learn_topic":[],"audience":[],"post_features":[],"class_list":["post-44356","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/employmenthero.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/employmenthero.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/employmenthero.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/employmenthero.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/employmenthero.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/employmenthero.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/employmenthero.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/employmenthero.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44356"},{"taxonomy":"learn_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/employmenthero.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/learn_topic?post=44356"},{"taxonomy":"audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/employmenthero.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience?post=44356"},{"taxonomy":"post_features","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/employmenthero.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_features?post=44356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}