Q: Do you think many people moonlight in the US? What kind of jobs do they do?
A: Yes, lots of people do, but this term is old fashioned. These days we say “side hustle” or “gig” instead of “moonlighting”.
It’s especially common for people in their 20s and 30s to have at least one side job, because regular work does not pay enough to live on these days. While the cost of living (expenses including rent, food, medical care, car payments, etc) has increased drastically in the past few decades, wages have remained stagnant in most industries. As a result, most younger people cannot earn enough to make ends meet just by working their 9-5 jobs.
Some common types of gig work include driving passengers for companies like Lyft and Uber, picking up food from restaurants and delivering it to customers for companies like Door Dash and Grub Hub, and doing deliveries for Amazon.
Most of these jobs allow the worker to work when they want to, so they do not interfere with the person’s regular work. I was once driven by a Lyft driver who was a university student. He told me that parking fees were so high at the university, that he drives for Lyft in between his classes in order to pay for his monthly parking pass.
(和訳)
Q: 米国では副業している人は多いの？ どんな仕事をしてる？
A: はい。たくさんの人がしてるわ。”moonlight” という言葉は古いわね。最近は、
“side hustle”とか、”gig”という言葉を使っているわ。
２０代、３０代の人が少なくとも１つ副業しているというのは普通よ。最近では、通常の仕事の給料だけでは十分食べていけないからなの。ここ数十年で生活費（家賃、食費、医療費、車両費など）が急激に上がったのだけど、たいていの産業の賃金が据え置かれているわ。その結果、ほとんどの若い人たちは９時—５時の仕事だけではやっていけないの。
よくあるのが、LyftやUberのような配車サービス会社の運転手、Door Dash やGrub Hubのようなレストランのお客さんへのデリバリー、アマゾンの配送ね。
これらの仕事のほとんどが、働きたい時に働けるから、その人の通常の仕事を妨げないの。私はLyftを使ったとき運転手が大学生だったことがある。彼は、大学の駐車場料金が高いので、駐車代を稼ぐために授業の合間にLyftで運転手をしてると言っていたわ。
