People Want to Work More

Is the Extra Effort Still Worth It?

For the past 12 months, Malak Foundation has been engaging with community members around an issue that keeps appearing in different forms: household pressure is increasing from almost every direction. People talk about groceries, rent, mortgage repayments, childcare, transport, utilities, insurance and the cost of everyday services. Different households experience these pressures differently, but the message is often very similar — there is less room left in the household budget at the end of the week. As these pressures continue, another conversation is becoming increasingly common. People are asking whether they can work more, take another shift, work weekends, do delivery work after hours or even take on a second job to strengthen their household income. The instinct is understandable: if life is becoming more expensive, perhaps earning more is one of the few things an individual can personally control. But that quickly leads to another question: if I work more, will I actually feel meaningfully better off?

The Decision People Are Making Every Week

This is not an abstract economic question. It is a decision ordinary people make every day. A person who already works during the week may consider doing delivery work in the evening, but before accepting that extra work they think about fuel, vehicle costs, tax and the time they will spend away from home. A nurse may be offered another weekend, evening or public holiday shift and ask whether the extra take-home income is enough to justify giving up that time. A casual railway worker may have the opportunity to cover another night shift or public holiday but decide that the financial gain is not significant enough. A teacher may consider taking on additional paid teaching, supervision or relief work. A childcare worker may be offered another shift while also managing their own family responsibilities. A cafe or restaurant worker may consider taking a second job or working additional weekends at another venue. The occupations are different, but the question is often the same: how much better off will I actually be after doing the extra work?

That question should not be interpreted as people being unwilling to work. In many of the conversations we hear, the opposite is true. People want to improve their financial position. They want to support their families, reduce debt, save for the future and create more stability. Many are prepared to give up evenings, weekends or public holidays to do so. The issue is whether the financial reward from those extra hours is strong enough to make the sacrifice feel worthwhile once the additional costs of working are taken into account.

More Australians Are Working More Than One Job

Australia now has around one million people holding more than one job, representing 6.9 per cent of employed Australians. That figure shows that multiple-job holding is no longer unusual. But the number by itself does not tell us why people are doing it. Some may enjoy the flexibility. Some may be building experience or combining different careers. Others may simply need additional income because one wage no longer provides the financial breathing room it once did. The important question is not whether working multiple jobs is good or bad. The more useful question is what is driving people toward additional work, and what determines whether they ultimately decide that another shift or another job is worth taking.

Over the past year, the pressures raised in community conversations rarely come from one expense alone. It is usually the combination that changes the household budget. Groceries may cost more at the same time that rent has increased. Transport costs may be rising while childcare makes additional working hours harder to manage. Mortgage repayments, insurance, utilities and other services can all take a larger share of income. Individually, these expenses may appear manageable, but when they arrive together they can significantly change how a family plans its week, its work and its future. That is why people increasingly look at their own working hours and ask what else they can do.

Working More Also Has a Cost

One part of the conversation that can easily be overlooked is that additional work is not free. Taking another shift can involve transport, childcare, meals away from home, additional fuel and other direct costs. There is also the value of time itself. Working another evening may mean less time with children, partners, friends or community. Night work, weekends and public holidays can create fatigue and disrupt family routines. For people already working demanding jobs, those factors matter. So when someone declines an additional shift, it does not necessarily mean that they lack motivation. It may simply mean that when they calculate everything involved, the additional work no longer produces enough benefit to justify the cost.

This is where the issue becomes larger than one household. A hospital may still need someone to cover a weekend shift. A childcare centre may still require another educator. A restaurant may still need another worker during a busy evening. A railway or transport service may need staff to cover nights, weekends or public holidays. A school may still need additional support. When enough people decide that the return from extra work is not sufficient, the impact can be felt across workplaces and services. A decision that begins around the kitchen table can therefore become part of a much broader workforce challenge.

This Is Not About Telling People to Work More

It is equally important to say clearly that the answer cannot simply be that Australians should work longer hours. People need rest. Parents need time with their children. Workers need safe hours and proper fatigue management. Communities also benefit when people have time to participate in family, social and community life. No healthy economy should depend on people working two or three jobs indefinitely simply to stay afloat. Additional work should always remain a choice.

The question is much narrower and more practical: when someone voluntarily wants to work additional hours, does the system make that extra effort financially meaningful? That is different from telling people they should work more. Many people are already working hard. The concern is whether the additional effort they are prepared to contribute produces enough improvement in their own household position to make it worthwhile.

There Is No Single Solution

It would be easy to reduce this discussion to tax alone, but household decisions are more complicated than that. For one person, tax may be an important factor. For another, childcare may be the main barrier. For someone else, transport or fuel costs may matter more. People receiving income-tested support may also face changes to payments when they earn additional income. Others may simply be constrained by caring responsibilities, disability, fatigue or the availability of suitable shifts. Any serious discussion therefore needs to consider the full picture rather than looking at one part of the system in isolation.

There is also a broader economic question. If households suddenly have more money to spend without a corresponding increase in the goods and services available, that can create additional pressure on prices. On the other hand, when additional income is generated because people genuinely work more and businesses are able to produce or deliver more, the economic effect can be different. This is why the issue deserves careful discussion rather than simple slogans. The real question is how Australia can encourage workforce participation while still protecting household wellbeing, economic stability and safe working conditions.

What We Have Been Hearing

After 12 months of community engagement, one message has become increasingly clear to Malak Foundation: people still want to improve their circumstances through work. There is no shortage of ambition. There are people prepared to take another shift, work an additional evening, give up a weekend or take on a second job when they believe doing so will genuinely help their household. The concern is that for some people the connection between working more and getting ahead no longer feels as strong as it should.

That is an important distinction. This is not a conversation about whether Australians are working hard enough. Many already are. It is a conversation about whether the economy is making the best use of the willingness that already exists. If someone wants to contribute more labour and an employer needs that labour, but the worker ultimately decides that the additional financial return is not worth the sacrifice, then something in that equation deserves closer attention.

A Conversation Worth Having

Australia is having important conversations about cost of living, household budgets, workforce participation, inflation and the long-term strength of the economy. These issues are connected. There may not be one policy solution. Part of the answer may involve taxation. Part may involve childcare, transport, income-support settings, housing costs, workplace flexibility or reducing the fixed costs associated with taking additional work. Most likely, the answer will involve a combination of different approaches.

At Malak Foundation, we believe good public policy conversations should begin by listening carefully to what people are experiencing in their everyday lives. Over the past year, we have heard the pressure coming from many directions, but we have also heard something encouraging: people still want to improve their situation through work. They still want the opportunity to earn more, support their families and contribute more.

That leaves us with a simple question that deserves a wider community conversation:

If an Australian is willing and able to work more, should that additional effort leave them meaningfully better off?

For the nurse considering another weekend shift, the railway casual offered public holiday work, the teacher considering additional paid duties, the childcare worker balancing another shift against family responsibilities, the delivery worker deciding whether another evening on the road is worthwhile, or the hospitality worker considering a second job, these are everyday decisions.

Individually, they may seem small.

Taken together, they tell us something important about household wellbeing, workforce participation and the future of work in Australia.

At Malak Foundation, we believe that is a conversation worth having.