Meghan would love to be a music teacher or play full-time in an orchestra. She studied music at Loyola University in New Orleans and plays the flute.
Instead, Meghan works a slew of part-time jobs and receives no benefits.
She is a cashier at Whole Foods, a substitute teacher, a flute tutor and an administrative assistant at a non-profit. Her employers want more availability from her, but don't want to offer more time, pay or benefits.
"In some of the jobs, I just don't feel appreciated," Meghan, 33, says. Her employers, "need me to be available full-time, but yet they can't offer me full-time work. And full-time meaning benefits. So they have to stop it."
With inconsistent hours, Meghan monthly income fluctuates between $1,000 and $3,000. Even with her husband's teaching salary, the couple sometimes struggles to cover the $3,600 of monthly expenses they have.
"It's very stressful," Meghan, a college graduate, says. "I think about all the job applications I've turned in and all the interviews I've been on and all the other people who are in the same situation, looking for those same [full-time] jobs. It's frustrating."
