A 32-year-old Australian bank employee who earns A$115,000 a year says he was forced to take two additional jobs to buy a home and speed up mortgage repayments, highlighting a broader rise in multiple job‑holding amid persistent cost pressures.
The man, who works full time as a learning designer at a major Australian bank, said he also gives music lessons at night and runs an e‑commerce store selling resources to teachers. He told Yahoo that despite his above‑average salary in the primary role, he picked up side work when he began looking to purchase property.
His around‑the‑clock effort allowed him and his partner to save about A$250,000 for a deposit after living with her parents for 18 months. With help from a relative, the couple bought a A$1.145 million apartment in Hunters Hill, in north‑west Sydney, in 2023, he said.
The couple pay roughly A$1,500 a fortnight toward their mortgage. The borrower said he continued to work three jobs not because the payment appeared unaffordable but because he wanted to eliminate the debt faster. He said the couple have repaid more than A$100,000 of the loan and still owe just under A$700,000 in principal.
"It wasn't until I was looking at purchasing a property that I figured, okay, I need to supplement this income," he said. "So I picked up tutoring again, and that's sort of been the side hustle or second job that I've maintained for quite a few years now."
He acknowledged the long hours have taken a toll. "The burnout has definitely come from trying to run this business and all the setbacks that have come with that," he said. "I've definitely felt burnout from that and I've had to have a few weekends where I just don't touch it and just try and leave it."
New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that multiple job‑holding is widespread. There were 948,000 Australians holding more than one job in June, according to the report, and workers aged 20 to 24 were the most likely to juggle multiple roles, representing 6.4% of employed people in that cohort.
Employment Hero co‑founder and CEO Ben Thompson said the trend reflects the trade‑offs people are making to manage living costs.
"It's a signal people are making big personal trade‑offs to cope with the cost of living," Thompson said.
Housing affordability has remained a central issue in major Australian cities such as Sydney, where high prices and deposits have pushed prospective buyers to adopt a range of strategies, including shared living arrangements, family assistance and supplementary work. In the case described, the couple combined a period of shared housing with parental help and a family contribution to secure the deposit and qualify for the loan.
Economists and housing analysts have pointed to a mix of factors driving demand for additional income streams: rising rents and property prices in urban centres, higher interest rates in recent years that increased mortgage servicing costs for new buyers, and broader increases in the cost of essentials. Government data, private‑sector surveys and academic studies have documented similar patterns of workers taking on secondary employment to meet expenses or accelerate debt repayment.
The bank worker’s case illustrates personal and financial trade‑offs that can accompany such arrangements. He described side work as a means to reduce long‑term debt rather than a necessity to meet immediate payments, but also said the extra hours contributed to periods of exhaustion and burnout.
Policy makers and employers have debated responses to the trend, including workplace flexibility, affordable housing measures and support for mental health and financial planning. For individuals, analysts note that while supplementary income can accelerate savings or debt reduction, it can also increase stress and reduce leisure time, with potential implications for health and productivity.
The anecdote of the 32‑year‑old and the ABS figures together underscore a wider shift: for a growing number of Australians, a single job no longer provides the financial margin once expected when buying a home in high‑cost markets.