Kim Ngan Bui, a pharmacy student at Roseman University of Health Sciences in Las Vegas, needed a way to make money once she realized an internship with limited hours wouldn’t suffice, and a remote, full-time job would take too much time away from her busy graduate school schedule.
That’s when she turned to DoorDash.
“I needed a job that was flexible, and that I (could) work whenever I wanted to,” she said. “And it didn’t have the pressure of sticking to a schedule and giving my availability—and just really being on my own terms. So that’s why I turned to DoorDash because it allowed all of that.”
Her goal with the delivery service is to work enough each week to pay for her groceries, eating out and other activities, Bui said.
The freedom and the flexibility of delivering for DoorDash is the primary motivation behind the more than seven million people who took advantage of the opportunity last year, according to Taylor Bennett, global head of public affairs at the company, which he also noted sees a unique level of demand in Las Vegas.
Of the total number of “Dashers,” Bennett said, 90% are working just 10 hours a week or less.
“We all have financial obligations, holidays or birthdays or unexpected expenses—to be able to hop on the platform, earn money quickly and then be paid out immediately is really a big draw,” he said. “It’s very much on top of their day-to-day jobs, on top of their own schedules and lives, and it’s additive to the income or other responsibilities they have in their lives.”
Most Dashers have full-time jobs or are students or caregivers, Bennett said.
The number of people working for DoorDash in addition to a full-time job elsewhere seems to corroborate recent research into “side hustles,” or additional jobs that people take on to supplement their income.
Forty percent of Americans have turned to side hustles, according to a 2023 study commissioned by Herbalife. Nearly 50% of those with side gigs took them on “solely to make ends meet,” per a news release.
Americans with side hustles commit nearly 10 hours per week to those jobs, on average, which most included e-commerce sales and driving for rideshares, among others, the study showed.
For many people, they may be juggling multiple jobs because their wages didn’t keep pace with high rates of inflation and high prices following the COVID-19 pandemic, said Jeff Waddoups, an economics professor at UNLV.
“Those workers, I’m sure some of them, needed to supplement their income with side work, and to have that available was important for them,” Waddoups said. “But it’s also a troubling thing that they would need to take jobs just in order to keep their living standard.”
In Southern Nevada, one way people are making extra cash is by officiating local high school and other youth sports games.
Vince Kristosik, president of the Southern Nevada Officials Association (SNOA), said most referees in the organization choose to do it for two reasons: a love of sports and a desire to supplement their income.
“I tell people, there’s no easier way to make a good amount of money in a short amount of time,” Kristosik said.
Like services like DoorDash, SNOA makes for a good side hustle because it is flexible in terms of how many days a week officials must work based on their schedule. Many of them do have full-time employment, and referee once their workday is complete, Kristosik said.
Depending on what sport and school they’re officiating for, SNOA referees can make anywhere from $51 to nearly $100 per game.
“When the economy is bad or inflation is up,” he said, “a lot of people are looking to supplement their full-time employment with another job.”
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