Category Selection Probing, Specific Probing, Comprehension Probing.
All respondents received this question. In Germany, six respondents had no other paid job, and ten did. Of those ten, four had a regular additional paid job, and six an occasional one. In Poland, the sample showed the reverse pattern, with six respondents in multi-activity and ten with only one job.
Four respondents, who during recruitment identified as employed (DE06, DE07, DE11) or self-employed (DE10)
only, answered that they have an
occasional other paid job in Q27. This demonstrates the necessity to distinguish between regular and occasional additional jobs. Other paid jobs that are occasional are not mentioned in a less elaborate recruitment process, but are then mentioned in an in-depth survey interview, whereas regular multi-activity is easily detected. This is also mirrored in the probing answers already at questions 5 and 7, where respondent with a regular additional job are very likely to already mention it.
Respondents all give solid and spontaneous explanations for their answer category selection. None of the respondents asked for clarification of the terms regular or spontaneous. They show a homogeneous understanding of the terms, though it is mainly defined by regularity and steadiness, and not frequency or number of hours per week as in the interviewer instructions.
Respondents who answer that they have another regular other paid job refer to daily or weekly jobs that contribute a substantive amount to the income:
- “I was thinking of my midi-employment as an interviewer in home office, which I’ve had since last November.” (DE02; two additional paid jobs, of which one is regular)
- “Yes, every Monday as a currier driver via bicycle” (DE14)
- “Yes, self-employed 20 hours a week” (DE05)
- “It is regular and with regular benefits” (PL10)
An additional job is considered regular when it has a fixed time slot next to the main paid job, is carried out or contracted reliably, and considered a job in its own right by the respondent.
- “Regularly means that it has a steady rhythm. Does that make sense? For me, it’s about a recurring rhythm, a regularity” (DE13)
- “For me, regular means that I know when I’m supposed to work” (DE15)
- “Apart from my main job, I have a job with a lower number of hours and I know the conditions I work there” (PL11)
- “Apart from my main job, I have a job with a lower number of hours and I know the conditions I work there” (PL11)
- “Frequency and duration is not basic for me. To call something regular, I need to be able to plan it in time” (PL15)
Opinions diverge on the required frequency of a regular job:
- “At least twice a week” (PL13)
- “Regularly means every week, at least once a week“ (DE02)
- “Regular means that I do something once a week, or also once every two weeks“ (DE16)
- “If someone said to me, ‘I work in this job once a month’, I couldn’t call that a regular job, that makes no sense“ (DE05)
- “Regular means at least one job a month for a week or two” (PL03)
- “A job which is available once-twice a month” (PL05)
- “Regular means that it’s always in the same time interval, even if that’s just once a year. It means you can rely on it happening” (DE07)
- “Regular means that it’s always in the same time interval, even if that’s just once a year. It means you can rely on it happening” (DE07)
One respondent defines a regular job as one that is not seasonal (PL01).
The term “occasional” requires more reflection on behalf of respondents, both in distinction from “regular” paid job, and also whether it is worth mentioning at all. Whether a job is regular or occa-sional doesn’t solely depend on the number of hours a respondent works in the additional job(s). However, with one exception (DE01), for the German respondents, occasional jobs take up at most 1½ hours per week. Occasional jobs are ones that are taken on at short notice, when they are offered by chance:
- „Ah, well, it really is occasional. When someone calls me to pose as a model, I do it.“ (DE06)
- „You see, it is so seldom that I hardly even want to say ‚occasional‘. But ‘occasional’ really is the correct answer. I had three offers to carry out web design, but only one of them actually came, and I carried it out and got paid. That was freelance work. But it was really just one job so far. Still, then I can’t say no, right? But I also can’t say ‚regular‘“ (DE07, occasional)
- “I’m undecided between ‘regular’ and ‘occasional’. It’s regular in that it does happen regularly, so I can more or less count on the tasks coming with a certain regularity. But it’s not regular in that I can’t really plan in advance. I do it if I can fit it into my schedule, but it doesn’t have a fixed time slot. So I would say, occasional” (DE01)
When asked to define “occasional”, respondents mainly name irregularity and not being able to predict when and how much they work:
- “Occasional means on short notice, with no regularity” (DE03)
- “Occasional means that maybe I don’t get called for two months, and then twice in one month” (DE06)
- “Occasional means that you only get paid when you work, and don’t know when that is” (DE12)
- “Something extra, not fixed” (PL11)
- “Occasional is something like a bonus” (PL10)
- “Occasional means spontaneous, irregular, single form of income. For instance, like a contract for a specific work or another single contract” (PL06)
One respondent (DE02) answers that she has an additional regular job, but comments that she actually has several, and while the question wording in German refers to one or more additional jobs, the answer categories only reflect the singular.
