More young Canadians are relying on multiple sources of income

Akarshi Sharma has a full-time job in the tech industry. But she paints nails and streams video games for extra cash on the side.

The 25-year-old resident of Abbotsford, B.C., graduated with a computer science degree in 2024. But entry-level openings were scarce, and she believes the rise of artificial intelligence has made it especially difficult for junior developers like her to break into the industry.

Although she did eventually get hired in a permanent position, the steady paycheque hasn’t erased her financial pressures. Half of her monthly income goes to rent, leaving little for savings and other expenses.

Ms. Sharma is part of a generation of young Canadians facing a difficult job market. Youth unemployment remains high, Canada-U.S. trade tensions have added economic uncertainty and AI is casting a shadow on some entry-level jobs. Against this backdrop, more young people – even some with full-time positions – are cobbling together multiple sources of income.

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Asmita Bhutani, a York University assistant professor who studies automation, gig work and job quality, says she’s seen a clear increase in people opting for additional sources of income, noting that while temporary and contract work have long existed, gig work as a secondary source is a more recent phenomenon.

“If we talk about even up until 10 years ago, this is not something that was normalized at all in our labour market,” she said.

An H&R Block survey found that 7.4 million adult Canadians were part of the gig economy in 2025. Nearly one in four reported having a gig or a side hustle in 2025, up from 13 per cent three years earlier.

A separate survey by Capital One from 2025 found that 36 per cent of Canadians aged 18 to 44 have a second source of income. It highlighted that Gen Z adults were 10 per cent more likely to have a side hustle than millennials or Gen Xers.

In Ms. Sharma’s case, those extra sources of income go toward savings and investments or uses it to cover unexpected expenses. They are tied to things she enjoys, but getting them off the ground still wasn’t cheap. Her Gel-X nail tech certification cost $1,400 on top of the estimated $500 to $800 she’s spent on supplies. Her business is only in its starting phase, with about two to three appointments a month bringing in roughly $120 to $180. Streaming video games on Twitch earns her around $200 a month for about 10 to 15 hours of her time each week.

“I do think that people having multiple streams of income is going to become the norm because it’s hard to function on just one,” Ms. Sharma said.

For many others, additional income fills a gap left by a lack of full-time work.

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Maryam Mahmoudi has an electrical engineering degree and a master’s in applied mathematics. The 29-year-old Calgarian also graduated in 2024, but stepping into her field has been harder than expected. So far she’s interviewed with eight companies and made it to the final round with two.

Earlier this year, she found part-time work in data analysis and algorithm development but is continuing to look for a full-time position. In the meantime, to bring in extra cash, she’s turned to conducting research interviews that earn her about $50 to $150 for a 30- to 90-minute call.

She also began mystery shopping, getting paid to pose as a customer and evaluate businesses. She’s done roughly 10 assignments this year, with the worthwhile ones typically paying around $80 to $100.

Ms. Mahmoudi attributes some of the difficulty finding full-time work in her field to recent layoffs, which have left new graduates competing with candidates who have years of industry experience. She also believes AI is reducing the need for some entry-level roles.

“I felt like a loser,” she said when describing her struggle to find a role that used her education. “I wasn’t using any of the skills that I learned in my bachelor’s and master’s, like programming, coding and mathematical modelling.”

According to Statistics Canada, youth unemployment has risen sharply from the lows of 2022, and U.S. tariffs and trade tensions have weighed on hiring and employment in trade-exposed industries. Between 2022 and 2025, employment among young workers in coding-intensive professions such as software engineering stagnated.

The Bank of Canada has also found that young people are reporting heightened concerns about losing their jobs amid the trade conflict. It warns that AI could pose additional risks for some young workers.

While she welcomes the extra money, Ms. Bhutani says juggling multiple jobs can create its own kind of insecurity. While some people may enjoy turning interests such as cooking, music or art into income, constantly piecing together work can lead to exhaustion and burnout.

“I haven’t really met a worker who said that ‘I do five jobs and I love them all’,” she said.

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Torontonian Armaan Rashid, 30, was laid off from his account executive role in July, 2025, which he attributes to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the Canada-U.S. trade war. A decline in business travel between the two countries hurt the company he worked for, he said.

Before landing the role, he submitted roughly 2,000 applications over two months and went through 60 to 70 interviews, including multiple rounds with some employers.

He’s since shifted toward working for himself, running a sales services business that brings in around $6,000 to $7,000 a month before taxes. When he was between jobs, he ramped up renting out his Toronto apartment on Airbnb and travelled or stayed with his parents about an hour outside the city. During fully booked summer months, he says the unit can bring in over $5,000 a month.

To keep costs down, he deep cleans the apartment himself rather than hiring a cleaner. He spends around two hours turning it over between guests and uses AI to automate parts of his guest communication.

For Mr. Rashid, building several income streams has become a form of protection against an unpredictable job market.

“It’s not really a choice,” he said. “It’s more like you have to adapt to the situation.”