The desire of workers to engage in moonlighting, a phenomenon of multiple job-holding is a
reflection of some of the changing labour market outcomes. Public sector workers who
suffered loss of jobs through public sector retrenchment and privatisation as part of Ghana’s
economic reform resorted to holding more than one job to earn enough to avert any
substantial drop in their living conditions. Despite the seemingly conspicuous existence of
multiple job-holding in Ghana, much remains to be learnt about its determinants and
characteristics of the phenomenon. This article employs the probit regression estimation
technique based on the two most recent nationwide household surveys conducted in 1998/99
and 2005/06 to investigate the main determinants of moonlighting in Ghana. It provides
empirical evidence to suggest that personal and household characteristics as well as location
and labour market characteristics such as individual earnings and hours spent in the main job
significantly influence an individual’s desire to engage in more than one job. The study
concludes that apart from the financial motive that drives an individual’s decision to
moonlight, the engagement of moonlighting on account of lower working hours in the
individual’s main job could be a symptom of visible or time-related underemployment.