Moonlighting Trends and Related Policy Issues in Canada and the United States

The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed Canada-United States cross-country comparison of moonlighting trends and to assess the possible underlying causes of such trends. The statistics show that both countries have experienced strong increases in moonlighting rates for women, never-married individuals, young persons, and service workers, while university-educated persons consistently have maintained high rates. United States' moonlighters remain more likely to combine a full-time job with a part-time job, while Canadians are increasingly becoming holders of multiple part-time jobs. We examine the degree to which changes in moonlighting rates are driven by labour force compositional effects, labour supply-side factors, and labour demand-side factors. Labour market policy recommendations are made with respect to welfare-to-work transitions and child care, payroll taxes, and non-wage benefits.