America’s middle class is always hustling — and now, they’re side hustling. The share of Americans with more than one job has been steadily rising for the last several years, and is still hovering at elevated levels. But the population holding multiple jobs looks different from before the pandemic, with a growing cohort of more
At Anthropic, Kristen Swanson’s role is to help people get better at using AI. Often, that means knowing when they should do the work themselves. “I have a job teaching people how to use AI, and I probably spend at least half of my time telling people when not to use AI,” said Swanson, who
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jennifer Mannix, a 56-year-old based in Tacoma, Washington. It’s been edited for length and clarity. In 2022, after 30 years working for the city of Juneau, Alaska, I was eligible for a full retirement, which included health benefits and a pension for the rest of my
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Judy Zeng, a 22-year-old business development intern at global media startup EO Studios, based in San Francisco. Her identity and employment have been verified by Business Insider. This story has been edited for length and clarity. I’m a recent graduate from Northwestern University, where I studied
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Luciana Pereyra, a 25-year-old Peruvian national who moved to the US at 17 on a tennis scholarship, lost her H-1B-sponsored job in 2025, and had to return to Peru. It has been edited for length and clarity. I was born and raised in Lima, Peru, and
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Carla Bacon, 69, who is caring for her 70-year-old husband while working a full-time job in Oklahoma. Bacon’s husband has slowly been recovering from a stroke, and they’ve had to go into medical debt to make ends meet. This interview has been edited for length and
