Side Hustle Safety Net Holds Half of Canada, MNP Debt Index Finds

Nearly half of Canadians have tried to earn extra income in recent months, and the country's latest debt survey says the reason is blunt: jobs feel less secure, artificial intelligence feels closer, and the old single paycheck no longer feels like enough. The quarterly MNP Consumer Debt Index, released this month and conducted by Ipsos among 2,001 adults, found 47 percent of respondents have looked for supplemental earnings of some kind. For a growing share of workers, the side hustle safety net has quietly replaced the emergency fund.

The survey paints a picture of a workforce bracing for change. More than half of working Canadians, 55 percent, say they are worried about job mobility and career opportunities in the current market. A quarter of workers say they are reluctant to leave their current job because of uncertainty, 19 percent feel less secure in their job than they did a year ago, and 20 percent would like to change jobs but do not feel financially secure enough to risk a spell of lower income or none at all. Against that backdrop, workers are turning to the side hustle safety net as a hedge against job loss.

Gen Z is building the safety net first

No generation is leaning on the side hustle safety net harder than the youngest workers. More than one in five Gen Z Canadians, 22 percent, have learned new skills to improve their job prospects, while 16 percent report working a second job, 10 percent operate a side business, 14 percent have monetized a hobby or passion project, and 9 percent say they have used AI tools to generate income. Millennials are close behind in some habits: 34 percent have sold goods online, compared with 21 percent of Canadians overall, and 8 percent have taken on freelance or contract work. Boomers, by contrast, are sitting this shift out: 81 percent say they have not tried to earn extra income at all.

The generational split makes sense when you look at who feels most exposed. Job mobility worries run highest among younger workers, according to Ipsos, and younger Canadians are the ones most likely to treat the side hustle safety net as a permanent fixture. Selling on platforms like Facebook Marketplace, eBay, or Etsy remains the most common entry point, followed by learning new skills and picking up freelance gigs. The pattern echoes an earlier survey finding that side gigs are increasingly becoming full-time work.

The fear behind the hustle

Artificial intelligence is now part of the anxiety. The index found 27 percent of working Canadians are weighing how AI could reshape their careers, with the most common concern being that the technology could make some of their skills less valuable. In Alberta, where job worries run hottest, 41 percent of residents worry AI could negatively affect their employment or income, and 49 percent have tried to build a side hustle safety net by selling goods, learning new skills, working a second job, monetizing a hobby, or freelancing.

Albertans also top the country on the measures that capture raw financial fragility. Three in five working Albertans worry about job mobility and career opportunities, and 57 percent say they do not have enough savings to support themselves or their families for six months if they lose their job without borrowing or falling behind on bills. "It does appear to be that Albertans certainly are lacking the confidence that they can handle any of these," MNP senior vice-president Sandra Landry told CBC News, describing a province where the core worry is employment insecurity rather than debt alone.

Borrowing costs add another layer. The index found 26 percent of Canadians feel better about handling a one-percentage-point rate increase than they did a year ago, while 23 percent feel worse, and only a small share say they could absorb an extra $130 in monthly interest payments. With rates holding steady, that squeeze keeps the pressure on households to find income wherever they can.

The pressure is not confined to one province. Nationally, 44 percent of Canadians say they are within $200 of being unable to meet their monthly financial obligations, and three in five, 61 percent, say they desperately need interest rates to come down even with the Bank of Canada's key rate holding at 2.25 percent. "AI is adding another source of uncertainty around how people work and what they may be able to earn in the future," said MNP's Grant Bazian in the release, noting that many Canadians are looking for additional ways to bring in income. Whether that income is a springboard or just a patch, the survey suggests the side hustle safety net now supports a large share of the country's workers.