Dual Employment — A New Biographical Pattern?

New career concepts, such as the Boundaryless Career, have been discussed for decades. In this context, an increasing role for secondary employment or multiple job holding can be expected. This might include some sideline activities or dual employment arrangements as well. The relevant state of research regarding dual employment remains very limited. By means of qualitative research, the structure and dynamics of dual employment careers can be understood and conceptually captured. Quantitative analyses using the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) for the years 1992 to 2020 provide an overview of some characteristics of dual employment and sideline activities over time. Furthermore, there is potential to identify a coherent pattern of dual employment in the German labour market via sequence pattern analysis. As a result, despite an increase in the number of cases, dual employment careers do not represent a relevant alternative to a professional trajectory oriented towards a main occupation. Dual employment is also unstable over time. However, there is a small cluster that exhibits a stable dual employment pattern. However, income compensation appears to play an important role.