Inflation may be cooling on paper, but for full-time employees facing holiday spending, it’s still feeling a lot like 2022. A new ResumeTemplates.com survey of 1,000 full-time U.S. workers shows a workforce running thin on financial cushion—and even thinner on time.
Sixty-one percent say it’s harder to cover holiday expenses this year, and nearly two-thirds plan to take on extra work to afford gifts, travel, food, and celebrations. So while companies draft end-of-year hiring forecasts and budget plans, employees are quietly building survival strategies.
And those strategies, increasingly, involve side hustles.
Full-Time Employment Isn’t Covering Full-Time Life
According to the survey, workers aren’t struggling because they’re overspending—they’re struggling because their baseline income isn’t keeping up.
61% say holiday spending is harder than last year, and for 3 in 10, the phaseout of government benefits like SNAP and insurance subsidies is making the season even tighter.
Julia Toothacre, Chief Career Strategist at ResumeTemplates.com, doesn’t mince words:
“Full-time employment no longer guarantees financial stability.”
She points to the widening gap between wage growth and the cost of living—something the labor market has hinted at for months. Even with unemployment hovering near historic lows and salary growth improving, inflation’s compounding effect has left workers with less real spending power.
This isn’t a holiday issue. It’s a structural one.
Overtime Is the New Holiday Bonus
The most common workaround?
Working more—often much more.
Among those seeking additional income:
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46% are picking up more hours from their current employer
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33% are doing delivery work
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30% are taking seasonal retail jobs
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23% are freelancing or doing ride-share
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Others are mixing in babysitting, pet sitting, or social media side gigs
If the early 2020s were dominated by The Great Resignation and flexible work negotiations, the late 2020s are beginning to show a different trend: The Great Patchwork—a workforce stitching together multiple income streams because one job isn’t enough.
Delivery work and ride-share remain the top fallback roles, mirroring broader gig-economy data from Uber, DoorDash, and Lyft, all of which tend to report holiday-season surges in driver activity. Meanwhile, retail continues its annual scramble for seasonal help, even as automation creeps further into store and warehouse operations.
Productivity Is Taking a Hit—and Employers Shouldn’t Be Surprised
Juggling holiday duties with a side gig isn’t just exhausting; it’s affecting primary job performance.
Thirty-nine percent of workers say their side jobs are hurting productivity in their full-time roles. That’s not surprising—burnout risk spikes when employees are effectively working 1.5 or 2 jobs, even temporarily.
And yet the demand for extra income persists. Among those looking for additional work, 43% say it’s hard to find opportunities, suggesting that even the gig economy is straining under seasonal pressure.
This presents a key challenge for employers:
Workers’ off-hours jobs are starting to bleed into their on-hours capacity.
As HR leaders and managers focus on Q4 deliverables and 2026 planning, they may be dealing with a workforce that’s physically present but mentally stretched—and the effects could linger into January.
Americans Plan to Dial Back the Holidays
Even with extra hours and extra jobs, many workers still plan to cut back.
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35% will spend less on gifts
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29% will scale down on decor
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26% will reduce travel
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25% will cut food spending
This isn’t just budgeting—it’s behavioral change. And HR analysts often note that when workers start cutting essentials (food and travel), it signals deeper economic strain than inflation metrics alone reveal.
A tighter holiday season also tends to ripple into Q1 consumer spending, meaning employers already forecasting softer first-quarter demand may be reading the situation correctly.
What This Means for Employers and HR Leaders
The numbers in this survey aren’t isolated—they align with trends emerging across payroll reports, gig-platform data, and financial-wellness tools used in HR tech stacks.
Three major implications stand out:
1. Financial stress is becoming a chronic performance risk.
Burnout isn’t just an emotional state—it’s increasingly financial. Employers may need to expand financial-wellness offerings, on-demand pay, or low-interest paycheck advances to stabilize workers.
2. Pay stagnation is driving multi-job workforces.
Even in white-collar environments, more employees are moonlighting. That complicates scheduling, availability, and long-term retention.
3. Gig-style supplemental income is now mainstream.
Companies that once discouraged side gigs may need to rethink their stance, especially as gig work becomes a financial necessity rather than a hobby.
The takeaway is clear: the holiday season isn’t just a personal budgeting challenge—it’s another signal that the traditional definition of “full-time employment” is losing relevance.
About the Survey
This poll was conducted in November 2025 using the Pollfish platform and includes responses from 1,000 full-time U.S. workers, 18 and older. The sample was census-balanced by age and region.
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