When One Job Isn't Enough: Why People in Mallorca Often Work Multiple Shifts

When One Job Isn't Enough: Why People in Mallorca Often Work Multiple Shifts

Early in the morning on the Plaça Major: a rolling suitcase, the clatter of trolleys, the voice of the saleswoman arranging the first croissants. Next door a man leaves a guesthouse, hands over the key and sprints to the bakery. Later he stands with a delivery box on his scooter at the harbor edge — mentally adding up the hours. These scenes are not a footnote. They are everyday life.

A key question that remains

How long can Mallorca afford that one job is not enough? That is the central question behind the numbers and stories. Those who want to work and live on the island often juggle seasons, part-time contracts and side jobs. This is not an adventure story but an internal reality: rents rise, housing disappears into holiday portals, and wages rarely keep up.

More than just statistics: lack of security, many faces

Yes, a study showing many Balearic workers hold multiple jobs shows high shares of workers with multiple jobs. But beneath that hide things rarely spoken aloud: informal side incomes without social insurance, the combination of care jobs with night shifts in tourism, and young people who need two jobs to share an apartment. Parents, especially single mothers, take extra shifts because childcare is not continuously available or affordable.

And there is a spatial effect: in places like Port de Sóller or Cala Ratjada you hear not only foreign languages in season, but also the constant comings and goings of part-time staff commuting between hotel, supermarket and beach bar. In the countryside seasonal workers clock between agriculture and gastronomy. You can hear the strain in the evening — not church bells, but the hum of delivery scooters and the clatter of pans.

Why typical solutions fall short

Short-term wage top-ups are important, but not sufficient on their own. If apartments are more profitable as holiday rentals than for long-term lets, no higher hourly wage will keep someone here. And if contracts only last six months, no one plans a stable life on the island. The seasonal economy creates insecure career paths; qualifications help little if the market offers no reliable full-time positions. This trend is explored in an analysis of how tourism changes the labor market on the Balearic Islands.

What is often overlooked

Some less-noticed aspects deserve more attention: as noted in a report on why multiple jobs are the norm in Mallorca, the role of local investors, the tax and earmarking of tourism levies, and the perspective of employers. Small hotels and family businesses also struggle with overheads, yet larger investment companies drive up housing prices. Also: informal childcare in neighborhoods keeps many families working — but it is not the same as planned, secure care.

Concrete approaches instead of platitudes

What could help? A few proposals that go beyond Sunday speeches:

Affordable housing: strict rules against converting rental apartments into holiday units and support programs for cooperative housing.

Reliable year-round contracts: incentives for companies to retain seasonal staff longer — for example tax relief when part of the workforce is employed year-round.

Targeted tourism levy: invest revenue from a solidaric tourism tax directly into housing, childcare and continuing education.

Strengthening social infrastructure: expansion of full-day childcare, flexible shift models for care professions and affordable transport options for commuters from outlying communities.

Promotion of collective bargaining and training: more collective agreement coverage in the sector; training opportunities for seasonal workers so that promotion within the island's economy is possible.

An appeal to planning and responsibility

The island lives off tourism — and that is a good thing. But if in the end three jobs stand between people and a decent quality of life, then that is no success. Investors, politicians and businesses must think together: whoever builds and plans here carries responsibility for the families connected to their projects. Son Ferrer, Palma, Port d’Alcúdia — everywhere there are people who get up, work and want to return home without having to count more shifts, a reality reflected in data on how many people in the Balearic Islands work two or three jobs.

Short-term help is necessary. In the long run we need an economic structure that allows people to live on Mallorca with a proper job. Otherwise the island risks not only tourist dominance but quietly emptying — shift by shift.