Side-Hustling Is Taking Off, but Do We Want Our Pilots Doing It?

• Side-hustling has been spreading among the US workforce as a whole, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. The share of pilots who side-hustle is particularly high, even compared to other safety-sensitive professionals.

• Among safety-sensitive professionals, while pilots are still behind air traffic controllers, surgeons, and railroad employees in terms of side-hustling frequency, they side-hustle more often than most, including bus and truck drivers, nurses, and nuclear operators.

• Side-hustling pilots gravitate towards roles with high returns and flexible or part-time work schedules, such as real estate agency and entrepreneurship.

Much has been made about the prevalence of side-hustles. Between higher costs of living, remote work, and digital platforms like Uber and Etsy that have lowered barriers to entry, holding multiple jobs has become increasingly common—from junior employees to executives. This week, as part of a collaboration with Business Insider, we’re using Revelio Labs workforce data to show that not even commercial airline pilots—or other similarly safety-sensitive roles, for that matter—are any exception to the side-hustling phenomenon.

In this newsletter, we define side-hustling as holding at least one other role in a different field and industry, and we define “safety-sensitive” roles as those in which impaired performance could result in a catastrophic incident affecting customers, coworkers, or the public (mostly in transportation and healthcare). These include not only other aviation-related roles like air traffic controllers but also train engineers, conductors, and technicians; bus and truck drivers; surgeons and nurses; and others.

To start, we find that pilots side-hustle at a higher rate than not only the U.S. workforce as a whole but also others similarly safety-sensitive roles.While each group has seen its side-hustling share rise fairly steadily since 2008, the rate of pilot side-hustling has climbed from about 6% to almost 10% in that time, growing most quickly during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic when pilots faced extremely reduced demand for their services as a result of health protocols and an overall diminished desire for air travel. But even with air travel back in full swing and then some, the increase in pilot side-hustling has so far stuck.

Nonetheless, the average growth in side-hustling by other safety-sensitive professionals—as well as the U.S. workforce as a whole—since 2008 has been even faster than what’s seen for pilots. Revelio Labs workforce data show that more than 11% of active air traffic controllers, surgeons, and railroad employees report a side-hustle outside of their main industry and field. On the other hand, other high-stakes occupations see relatively little such side-hustling, including aviation maintenance technicians (4.7%), nuclear operators (6.2%), and nurses (6.4%), and most side-hustle less frequently than pilots.

What roles do these sorts of professionals gravitate towards outside of their main occupations? For pilots, the answer is most often real estate. About 9% of side-hustling pilots are working as a real estate agent or in property management. Other common roles include entrepreneur, educator, and sales director—all types of work that lend themselves to flexible and/or part-time work. Roles in finance, especially financial/investment advisors, are also common, with pilots showing a tendency to work in roles where returns can be high.

Finally, while pilot side-hustling is widespread, it isn’t evenly distributed across employers. Which large airlines’ pilots side-hustle most often? At the top of the list is SkyWest Airlines, whose pilots are about 20% more likely than the average pilot to have a side-hustle. Pilots at JetBlue are also more likely than the average pilot to have a side-hustle.

While historically higher than most other roles already, the rate of side-hustling among pilots has continued to rise as has the rate of side-hustling for other segments of the workforce, including other safety-sensitive roles. Pilot side-hustling accelerated most during the earliest months of the pandemic, but it has persisted even through an industrywide pilot shortage. This continuing trend is enabled by the growing acceptance and feasibility of side-hustling and perhaps motivated by a desire for not only additional income but also labor diversification.