Almost Half of Albertans Now Run Side Hustles, MNP Report Finds

Almost half of Albertans are turning to side hustles as financial strain and worries about artificial intelligence threaten their primary income, according to a new report from insolvency firm MNP, reported by CBC.

The figure marks Alberta out as a province where supplemental work has shifted from an occasional gig to a routine part of household budgeting. MNP, one of Canada's largest insolvency practices, tracks consumer debt sentiment, and its findings signal that the side-hustle trend is now as much a defensive move as an entrepreneurial one.

Why are Albertans picking up extra work?

The report points to two converging pressures:

• Financial concerns — households are seeking additional income streams to cover rising costs and debt loads.
• AI job concerns — workers fear automation could erode their main source of employment, prompting them to hedge with secondary earnings.

The combination matters. Traditional debt-stress surveys usually capture households cutting spending. Here, nearly one in two Albertans is responding by selling more of their labor — a signal that confidence in the primary job market, particularly its resilience to AI, is weakening.

What does this mean for individual workers?

For an Alberta worker, the data suggests a labor market position where a single employer no longer feels like a safe bet. A side hustle can function as insurance: if AI reshapes or eliminates a role, secondary income softens the fall. It also means more Albertans are working longer total hours to maintain the same standard of living — a trade-off that carries its own costs in time and burnout risk.

For employers, the near-50% figure is a retention warning. Workers who already operate a second income stream face lower friction when deciding to leave, and hiring managers in Alberta should expect candidates to weigh flexibility heavily in job negotiations.

How reliable is the number?

The figure comes from MNP's consumer research, as reported by CBC on the report's release. MNP publishes periodic surveys on household debt through its MNP Consumer Debt Index series, and readers should watch for follow-up releases that may show whether side-hustle adoption is still climbing, stabilizing, or reversing as inflation cools and AI adoption matures.

The report's framing — financial and AI concerns cited together — suggests that even if cost-of-living pressures ease, automation anxiety could keep supplemental work elevated among Albertans through the next several survey cycles.