PeoplePerHour.com, a Europe-wide online business marketplace, has reported a 54% rise in British workers joining the site in the last month for a second job, compared with this time last year when the recession was at its peak.

According to the company, most new joiners admit that the tough jobs market and reduction in wages and spending power is forcing them to look for new work.

PeoplePerHour.com has also seen a rise of 90% in the number of second-job workers over the last six months. Over the past 12 months the figure is up 177%.

The figures also show a doubling of young people and women signing up to find extra work. Of these, 57% are full-time freelancers.

Xenios Thrasyvoulou, chief executive and founder of PeoplePerHour.com, says: “Our figures show that British workers are increasingly having to take second jobs in order to make ends meet.

“Jobs today aren’t paying enough money to cover the rises in the cost of living. Meanwhile the Centre for Economics and Business Research and the Institute of Social and Economic Research has revealed that British workers are taking home just over £1k less than two years ago.

“Others have been made redundant and found a new job but it doesn’t pay as much as it did before, so they join PeoplePerHour.com to offer their skills to employers in their spare time.

“In the last recession people had to cope without the internet. Today new technology helps workers who have suffered in the recession to keep working at home after their day job. It means that people can work longer but have a better quality of life as they aren’t going out to work, but staying at home seeing their children and their partners.”