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This week on NPR, we're looking at the changing American workforce. A new NPR/Marist poll finds that 20 percent of American workers are contract workers. That means they can see their pay vary greatly from month to month. NPR's Jim Zarroli caught up with a Colorado family trying to keep up with the bills in a world where their incomes regularly fluctuate.
JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE: Tom Hansen and Gina Barr are frying mozzarella sticks for their two teenage sons in their kitchen in the Denver suburb of Englewood.
TOM HANSEN: And I have prosciutto-wrapped mozzarella sticks. I don't know if you've had one of these, but...
ZARROLI: The boys have just come home from school, and the two-bedroom apartment suddenly seems a lot louder. One of the parents is almost always around when the kids get home. Gina, who's 37, works as a shift manager at Starbucks and starts work way before dawn.
GINA BARR: I start work at 4:30 (laughter). Adjusting to that schedule was - you know, there definitely was an adjustment period. But I quickly adapted to it.
ZARROLI: Tom, at 39, works evenings as a banquet server at a nearby restaurant. It's not a full-time job. He works when he gets called in. He usually knows a week in advance what shifts he'll get but not always.
HANSEN: I probably pick up I'd say about a quarter of my shifts on a - kind of a last-minute basis where there's two days' or less knowledge.
ZARROLI: It sounds like you almost always say yes. Why is that?
HANSEN: It's - you know, the money per hour is really just too lucrative to say no.
ZARROLI: Tom likes the job, and the pay with tips is really good. But Gina says the irregular hours make it hard to predict how much he'll bring in.
BARR: I mean, during Christmas, during December, it was - oh, my gosh, he was working, like - I think he worked, like, 17 or 19 days in a row, which was wonderful for our children. We had a great Christmas (laughter). But when you drop into January and that income now slices in half, that's a little bit harder to deal with.
ZARROLI: When times are slow like now, Tom has other ways to make money.
HANSEN: So just go into the app.
ZARROLI: He drives for Lyft. It's a quick way to make cash.
HANSEN: You know, a lot of times I'll know that I am $70 short on rent or whatever the bill I'm trying to pay is. And so I'll just drive until I have $70 and then cash it out, and then I'm done.
ZARROLI: But in the suburbs, driving isn't that lucrative, so they're selling off some of their possessions on Facebook Marketplace. It's not just about money. They're trying to declutter. They've kept only what's important - family photos, favorite books, a Jimi Hendrix poster. Until last year, the Hansens lived in Utah. They worked incredibly long hours. Gina had a telecom job, and Tom managed fast food restaurants. But they both grew up in Colorado and wanted to be closer to family. The move back home has meant less money.
Diana Farrell is president of the JPMorgan Chase Institute, which has studied families whose incomes vary a lot. She says a lot of people like this kind of lifestyle. The problem is that many of them don't maintain much of a cash buffer.
DIANA FARRELL: Because most households don't have a cushion, meaning that if you have a dip in income, you can go into your cash buffer to take care of any expenses you weren't expecting...
ZARROLI: That means they're unprepared when an emergency occurs like an accident or a health problem. The Hansens get health insurance and other benefits through Gina's job at Starbucks, but they don't have much money put away. Last year, they did really well, so they took a family vacation to California. Gina says they had a great time.
BARR: And we came back. And then all of a sudden, there was no work, and we couldn't even pay rent. It was very (laughter) difficult. And then we were scrambling. And we're like, was it us? Did we just spend too much? You know, and you kind of question and doubt yourself I think at moments. Am I doing the right thing?
ZARROLI: Then there are the unexpected bills that come up - braces for the kids' teeth, a car that breaks down. Tom gives Gina credit for getting the family through the rough times. She's the one who's good at planning inexpensive meals or calling the doctor to ask for more time to pay bills.
HANSEN: She's definitely the planner in the family. And through her survival brilliance, (laughter) I'll call it, we've gotten through a lot of tough months when the shifts have dropped off and we've made a lot less money.
ZARROLI: But Gina says the constant juggling, the robbing Peter to pay Paul, takes a toll.
BARR: You know, as I put it to Tommy several times, it's like nails in my brain. Like, I hate doing it. That's the part I don't like because I prefer to just let everything get paid when it needs to get paid. We're not frivolous people. We don't spend a lot of money.
ZARROLI: The Hansens are pretty optimistic. Gina is angling for a promotion at Starbucks where she'll earn more money. But for now, their income bounces around, and that can sometimes drive them both crazy. Jim Zarroli, NPR News.