Millennials More Likely To Have A Side Hustle To Pay Bills, Study Finds

millennials working — Millennials are among the leading group of Americans that are making extra money from side hustles, according to a Bankrate survey. A group of young people are pictured on May 5, 2017 working on their website at a startup company in Shanghai, China. Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images

A new survey has found that almost one and four Americans have a side hustle or a job outside of their regular position and more than half of those workers are millennials. The findings show that 37 percent of Americans making extra money from regular side jobs are earning an additional $686 per month on average.

The Bankrate survey, released Monday, which commissioned a study of more than 1,000 U.S. wage-earners, found that 59 percent of respondents who earned money on the side mainly do it for disposable income, while 38 percent do so to meet monthly expenses.

Furthermore, millennials, more than any other age group, are more likely to have a side hustle. The study found that 51 percent of millennials have at least one occasional side job that they rely on for extra cash flow.

Diane Mulcahy, author of "The Gig Economy" and an adjunct lecturer at Babson College, told Bankrate.com that this is because many millennials likely have major debt in an unforgiving economy.

"When I talk to millennials, I think two things really come up. One is that they're very aware that there's no job security, so they're the least likely generation to kind of settle into a full-time job and assume that everything's going to be OK," Mulcahy said.

"The other reason is clearly economic. Most millennials...have significant debt and a lot of them are looking for ways to either build a financial cushion or reduce their debt faster."

Meanwhile, nearly half of Americans claimed their expenses are equal to or higher than their income, CNN Money reported. That percentage is steeper for those ages 18 to 25 at 54 percent.

Conversely, 68 percent of millennials working side hustles use the disposable income on things aside from their regular living expenses, while 32 percent of respondents claim they use the side jobs to supplement the cost of living expenses housing and food like housing and food, which can be a great way to ward off debt, experts say.

"Having a side hustle is a great way to make extra money to save for retirement, pay off credit card debt and just really get back on track financially," Amanda Dixon, a Bankrate.com analyst, told CBS.