
The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce - happy-go-lucky
https://www.npr.org/2018/01/23/579720874/will-work-for-no-benefits-the-challenges-of-being-in-the-new-contract-workforce
======
brudgers
One aspect of the "gig economy" that I've not seen covered is the way it
effects gigsters professional social graphs. At the deep end of Mechanical
Turk services where work is dispatched by an algorithm (Uber/Lyft/AirBnB/etc.)
there are no upward connections to supervisors and managers and officers and
no lateral connections to coworkers.

This means that working does not provide insider access to potentially better
(or alternative) jobs when coworkers move on. There's no implicit social
framework for _insider_ information. There's no personal channel where a Lyft
driver finds out that Uber is a better opportunity (or vice versa).

To put it another way, two Lyft drivers have little basis for connecting on
Linkedin. Not that I think Linkedin is great. Only that gigsters don't even
get the loose social connections that Linkedin facilitates...and cynically,
the gig economy casts other Lyft drivers as competitors rather than coworkers.

~~~
Robotbeat
Perhaps there's not social connection directly in the workplace, but there IS
social connection between Uber/Lyft/etc drivers online. It was on HN a week or
two ago: [https://www.fastcompany.com/40501439/the-network-uber-
driver...](https://www.fastcompany.com/40501439/the-network-uber-drivers-
built)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16110598](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16110598)

 _The Network Uber Drivers Built:

Ride-hail drivers work alone, but they’re banding together online to compare
notes, uncover new policies, and help each other navigate the rough roads of
the gig economy._

Similar online communities exist for Mechanical Turk.

(I don't think your overall point is wrong, just pointing out that contractors
often figure out ways to organize online anyway... This is a good trend, and
hopefully spreads as a way to counteract the sometimes-isolating world of
contract work...)

~~~
Chaebixi
Personally, I think web forums like that are a poor substitute for actual
interpersonal social connection. A 1-1 relationship with a friend, colleague,
or supervisor can give you _in particular_ a leg up when you need it. Any
broadcast medium can't fill that role, all it can do is disseminate
information to a wide group.

~~~
Robotbeat
> can give you _in particular_ a leg up when you need it. Any broadcast medium
> can't fill that role, all it can do is disseminate information to a wide
> group.

If all we're talking about is getting a small number of people a leg up, then
is it so bad (socially) that contract work lacks that? In my mind, the whole
question is about overall social benefit, thus benefit to the "wide group." In
fact, if web forums are as equality-inducing as you imply (which I kind of
doubt, to be honest), that would count as a big benefit overall to that kind
of system.

~~~
Chaebixi
> If all we're talking about is getting a small number of people a leg up

That's the wrong interpretation. It's about giving a large number of people
each a _personalized_ leg up. It's equality-inducing in the _worst sense_ to
have everyone hit the same indifferent and impersonal wall. Personalized
opportunities are how you find _holes_ through that wall.

Basically real human relationships are a safety valve in an inhumane system.
Weak and distant broadcast relationships aren't.

------
frgtpsswrdlame
Keep this in mind when looking at the government's monthly job reports. We've
set the wrong metric, so while unemployment may be low the power that would
normally flow to workers from a tight job market doesn't exist here.

 _“We find that 94% of net job growth in the past decade was in the
alternative work category,” said Krueger. “And over 60% was due to the [the
rise] of independent contractors, freelancers and contract company workers.”
In other words, nearly all of the 10 million jobs created between 2005 and
2015 were not traditional nine-to-five employment._

[https://qz.com/851066/almost-all-the-10-million-jobs-
created...](https://qz.com/851066/almost-all-the-10-million-jobs-created-
since-2005-are-temporary/)

~~~
Terr_
IMO this is one of the many different manifestations of a financial squeeze
(or at least a "power shift") against middle- and lower-class workers that has
been growing over 50 years.

What I find intellectually-interesting is the idea that it's a big
hetereogenous system where different parts and aspects are "crumpling" (both
concurrently and sequentially) rather than one big politically-noisy snap.

Push kids towards college for earning-potential; defer usual retirement ages;
have fewer children; live in a smaller place; both spouses work, live in the
city, since you need a denser job-supply for both spouses to be hired and
commute; work a second part-time job; etc.

~~~
zanny
Most things are this nuanced, but tabloids and headlines would rather condense
everything to 140 characters.

Especially in economics, nothing is simple. Everything has branching
consequences and influences. Nothing happens in isolation. Trends are the
products of a thousand knobs being tuned according to another thousand knobs
each.

------
acconrad
Am I in the minority here for being a contract developer who is happy to be in
this place?

* I make over 40% more than I did when I was full-time, and I was already in the top band for pay in my title. This far exceeds the 15% markup for self-employment tax.

* My wife works full time so she has our back for health insurance

* I can save way more for retirement with an SEP IRA than I ever could with a company-sponsored 401k...it's $55k/yr for 2018 (assuming you contribute 25% of earnings or make $220k/yr)

I can understand that the Gig Economy is certainly not benefiting everyone
(e.g. Uber drivers, Postmates runners), but I mean boutique consulting firms
have existed for a while and many of them achieve many millions in revenue
even with only a few partners. Am I missing something or delusional in my
thinking?

~~~
briffle
How would your situation change, if item number 2 was no longer there. (ie,
your wife became a contractor) I think that is the largest concern/tipping
point for most people..

~~~
Consultant32452
Single father and consultant of 5 years here. It's easy if you're
conservative/responsible with your money. Buy health insurance, get short and
long term disability. Keep 6 months of expenses in your emergency fund. Don't
have any consumer debt. I think the hardest part for most people is being able
to not burn through their money as fast as they get it.

~~~
rectang
It's also expensive, inconvenient, time-consuming, and risky to be poor. None
of the suggestions you make are "easy" for poor people.

Consider how much time, energy, and expertise it takes even to research
disability insurance and buy the appropriate product.

~~~
Consultant32452
There are basically two options for disability insurance, 50% or 75% of what
you currently make. I'm sure there's other options, but those are the default
choices. The minutia of what's covered basically the same across the industry
and if you just choose the first provider you talk to it's not really
different than getting it from your employer where you had no choice of
providers or coverage. The big barrier is realizing you have personal agency
and can do basic things like shop.

~~~
rectang
> The big barrier is realizing you have personal agency and can do basic
> things like shop.

This argument reminds me of web designers who blame users for the mistakes
they make when presented with a horrible user interface -- that there is no
system so terrible that the user can't be a moral failure, 100% responsible
for their own misfortune.

~~~
Consultant32452
The difference between you and me is that you believe poor people are stupid
and I don't. Otherwise you wouldn't have felt the need to qualify how
difficult it would be for "poor people" to figure out how to buy disability
insurance, a product that's largely off the shelf.

~~~
rectang
No, the difference is that I factor in structural factors that keep people
poor, while you pretend they don't exist.

~~~
Consultant32452
What structural factors, specifically, stop poor people from attaining the
level of "expertise" necessary to buy disability insurance?

~~~
mLuby
Fundamentally it's lack of time due to having to work 2+ gigs likely while
juggling child care or elder care. People with money can pay people to do
things for them, freeing up time. Even if they do it themselves, they likely
have a more comfortable life so it's easier to devote an evening or a weekend
to figuring out complicated medical/legal/financial scenarios.

~~~
Consultant32452
Do you similarly feel that it's impossible for poor people to buy car
insurance? Disability insurance is LESS complicated than that. Do you want the
50% of your current salary or 75% of your current salary option? That's it.
Maybe you can pay a few extra bucks for a rider that increases your disability
coverage each year as you get a raise. This is not complicated stuff and any
insurance agent is going to be happy to walk you through it if you have
questions.

~~~
mLuby
Nobody's saying it's impossible or even difficult. But if I'm rushing from my
shift at McDonald's to pick up my kid and drop them off at home with some
dinner before heading to the late shift at Home Depot, I'm not going to be
able to talk to an insurance agent who might very well be happy to walk me
through it, let alone spend time actively thinking about what coverage I need.

~~~
Consultant32452
You dodged my first question. Apply the same thing to car insurance. Are poor
people generally incapable of attaining the "expertise" to be able to purchase
car insurance?

~~~
mLuby
Car insurance is _much_ simpler than health insurance. Still, I expect most
people without car insurance are poor, and the reason they don't have it is
not simply a lack of money but also (and relatedly) a lack of time.

Generally yes, poor people are less capable of gaining the "expertise" to do
many things, because they are busy trying to stay alive. It's textbook
hierarchy of needs.

Noticed other replies; why the fixation on car insurance? I thought we were
talking about structural impediments to poor people?

~~~
Consultant32452
This is the comment I'm responding to:

>Consider how much time, energy, and expertise it takes even to research
disability insurance and buy the appropriate product.

This is in the context of a discussion about starting your own business. If
you're on the tier of hierarchy of needs where you're struggling for food,
then sure, maybe you shouldn't be starting your own business at this point.
However, if you have the intellectual capacity to buy car insurance, and also
are in a position to be starting your own business, you almost certainly have
the cognitive ability to purchase disability insurance.

------
40acres
> Within a decade, contractors and freelancers could make up half of the
> American workforce.

This is pretty shocking to me. With recent trends you can easily see that the
other half of the population will be people in IT and health care (home
service providers, nurses, etc.)

I've never had a contract job, I'm not sure if part-time college jobs count,
are contract employees getting work via an agency or are they on their own? If
these agencies exist are they helping to negotiate on behalf of their workers?

It feels like there is space for a digital employment agency, there must be a
way to combine the "flexibility" of contract work with the longer term cushion
that comes with a full time job.

~~~
hatsubai
I am a contract employee who gets work via an agency. I have full health
benefits (health, vision, dental which costs me about $200/mo), paid holiday,
vacation, and even paid overtime (1.5x my hourly rate). All of this was
negotiated ahead of time, along with the salary range I was looking for.

Any new opportunities that are available, my agency contacts me and asks if I
am interested in doing work there, or if I want to stay at my current place. I
have been working at my current place in govt defense embedded work for the
past 2+ years getting paid more than most direct hires with the only real
downsides being no 401k matching and no personal/sick time when looking at
total comp. I am also able to work from home and make my own hours, so I am
more flexible than direct hires who have to remain in the office during "core
hours".

Some people here have been contract workers for well over a decade, so as long
as the company has a need for you, you can remain on contract. If you want to
go direct with the company you are contracted at, you can also negotiate that
during their periods when they open up direct hiring.

This is my situation here in the Midwest as a defense contractor, so it may
differ elsewhere and in different fields of work. Needless to say, it's not a
bad gig, especially if you can get into an area where the company can't afford
to lose you. For example, I am one of two people in the entire company who
knows the OS architecture for every vehicle we make, and I got paid extra
money to grind out a few hours a week to learn that architecture.

~~~
ThrustVectoring
>the only real downsides being no 401k matching

That's not exactly a downside from a total compensation perspective, so long
as you are considered self-employed for setting up a one-participant 401k. You
get significantly more control over what portion of your total compensation is
taxable vs tax-deferred.

------
SamReidHughes
Good (edit: in the long run). The services they list, like health insurance,
retirement, or pensions, should be decoupled from your employer.

~~~
z_open
Ideally they would be coupled to our government, but since they aren't
providing that, our employers should be obligated to ensure they are providing
us with the means to keep ourselves healthy.

~~~
pathseeker
That's historically the way it has been but it's absurd in general. Would you
argue the same thing about housing, food, and water (they should all be
provided by the employer)?

Really what we need is an expectation of being able to buy healthcare on our
own with regular incomes.

~~~
gambiting
No, the american approach is beyond absurd. Of course my employer should pay
into(government ran) healthcare on my behalf. Of course they should pay into a
pension plan. And yes, currently, if I stay beyond my mandated 7.5 hours, my
employer has to provide food during that time. My employer also has to provide
water during working hours. If my employer asks me to go somewhere on company
business, they have to provide housing.

~~~
zip1234
You didn't really explain how the American approach was absurd. Also, 7.5
hours seems extremely arbitrary. Why pick that number of hours? Why not 4
hours? Why not 9?

~~~
gknoy
For non-salary workers, in your "8 hour" work day there is a certain mandated
amount of break time. X minutes per Y hours, for example, plus time for lunch.
They might have taken 8 hours and subtracted two 15-minute breaks.

I'm not sure if the 8 hours is intended to be (8h + X break time), or (8h - X
break time); I thought it was the former, but but might be mistaken. That's
probably where the GP got their 7.5 from.

~~~
lotsofpulp
In the USA, there is no federal requirement for break time.

~~~
gknoy
How true! However, there are some at state levels. For example [0]:

(2018) Under California law (which is much more generous to employees than
federal law), if you are a non-exempt worker, you are entitled to meal and
rest breaks: a 30-minute meal break if you work more than 5 hours in a
workday, and 10 minutes breaks for every 4 hours you work

For an 8-hour work day, that would yield a 30 minute break + two ten minute
ones.

0: [https://calaborlaw.com/what-break-periods-am-i-entitled-
to/](https://calaborlaw.com/what-break-periods-am-i-entitled-to/)

------
gaius
People who use Uber, AirBnB, Deliveroo and similar companies are only fuelling
this race to the bottom. Maybe one day it will catch up to them, and then it
will be too late. Use your leverage while you still have it, Comrades.

~~~
tghw
It's not a race to the bottom. It's a correction. Why should your health care
be determined by your employer? It's a ludicrous system that should have died
decades ago.

~~~
untog
> Why should your health care be determined by your employer? It's a ludicrous
> system that should have died decades ago.

Yeah but it's being replaced by insurance that is utterly unaffordable for a
lot of contract employees. If we want to decouple health insurance and
employers (and we should) then we should be proactively working out what that
looks like in the future.

~~~
FireBeyond
> utterly unaffordable for a lot of contract employees

Caused in part by the issues of employability of (some) chronically ill
people, driving up costs, and making "individual" plans de facto "high risk
pool plans". Which would be helped by, as you said (and I agree):

> decouple health insurance and employer

------
Ancalagon
I'm sure I'll get some flak for saying this on HN, but I would encourage
everyone not to take a contracting gig unless you're absolutely desperate for
work. I don't believe most people are cut out to properly negotiate the pay
for a contracting position (in that they do not know how to properly account
for all of the benefits they are not getting). And by taking a contracting
position you are basically encouraging the contracting and gig economy to
grow, and allowing employers to take even more advantage of their employees by
baiting them with a carrot on a stick. You can argue the gig economy allows
flexibility for the worker, which is true to some extent, but I can't imagine
this flexibility wouldn't cause a huge amount of stress in the day to day
lives of people who need gainful employment to support someone else (children,
elderly parents, etc.)

Look, I can't claim to have been a contractor for any significant length of
time, so maybe I'm talking out my ass and every freelancer here can tell me
so. But the fact is the american people have let employers have too much power
for far too long, and encouraging people to take contract work seems to me
like just another step in the wrong direction of giving these companies even
more power, and then everyone is worse off for it.

~~~
humanrebar
Contract work _should_ be fine. I frankly blame the American government for
tying healthcare to not just _employment status_ but _particular employer_ so
tightly for so long. It is frankly ridiculous and disgraceful that our
political leaders are not held to account for this.

The early Tea Party was _supposed_ to be organized around a theme of "stop the
nonsense and denial!" with respect to these kinds of problems, but it was
quickly corrupted by the ignorant and by the people who were hoping to find
ignorance. Rather than turning energy and community action into positive
change, they were derided and stymied.

So now we have Trump who is basically nonsense and denial personified.

Not that Obamacare did anything to get us off the employer healthcare crutch.
In that respect, things seem to have just gotten worse.

And I'm a person that doesn't think _everything_ needs to be political! It's
just hard to get around the fact that American is grossly misgoverned here.
But the American voter can't bring itself to vote on real issues instead of
rooting for its political team. This gives me little hope that we'll ever get
the 2/3 to 3/4 consensus we'll need to practically fix this (1).

(1) Even if we don't need that many people agreeing to _pass_ legislation, I
think things like reforming entire sectors of the economy and
employer/employee relationships requires very broad support to be both fair
and lasting. Having 51% of voters pee in the cornflakes of the other 49%
doesn't get us anywhere. Hopefully that's clear given American politics since
2006 or so.

EDIT: To tie this back to contract work, contract work is _great_ and provides
needed dynamism and small-business know-how to the economy. But it's _very_
risky. One needs an independent source of income (other investments, working
professional spouse) or a big pile of capital so you can weather ups and
downs, take health sabbaticals if needed, hire temp help sporadically, etc.

~~~
Ancalagon
Oh I agree completely, it should be fine. But mega-insurance already managed
to lobby basic universal health care out of existence. And now that those
safety nets have been removed, employers want to have their cake and eat it
too by not giving health insurance to their employees. I'd rather the american
people have some access to healthcare than none at all. So until the people
figure out that universal healthcare is the only way to go, unfortunately this
is the best option.

~~~
Jesus_Jones
maybe some mega insurance was against obamacare, but a lot of them wanted it
to continue because it was providing steady business. most individuals liked
it for the changes like kids being on parent's health ins till 25.

------
WalterBright
> According to the poll, 51 percent of freelance and contract workers do not
> receive benefits common to many full-time jobs — sick leave, unemployment
> insurance or retirement savings.

Back when I worked at Boeing, there were many contractors. They usually were
paid double the hourly rate of the salarymen. But they got no benefits, and
could be let go without notice.

Turns out that the Boeing benefits package was worth about 40% of the salary,
and coupled with the unreliability of contract employment, it worked out about
even steven to be paid double.

Sadly, the article does not delve into the pay differential aspect of salary
vs contractor. Safety nets don't come for free.

------
db48x
We should uncouple insurance from employers anyway. Offering benefits such as
insurance was a hack that started during WW2 so that companies could get
around the idiotic wage freezes imposed by the government, and it gives your
employer far too much power over your health.

------
apercu
I'm totally cool with "contract" work (that's what I do in a way) so long as
I:

* Do the work from home or wherever I want

* Use my own tools and equipment

* Work when I want to (within reason)

* Have a say in the deadlines

* Can turn down projects

But the minute you dictate my hours and where the work is done? No way.

~~~
dabockster
> But the minute you dictate my hours and where the work is done? No way.

Isn't that how US law determines if someone is actually a contractor vs an
employee?

~~~
apercu
There is freelance contract and contract employment. Those are two different
things, but, yea, to a degree you're right.

------
Animats
The US will have huge numbers of broke old people in future decades.

~~~
dredmorbius
That's a realisation which hit me about 5-7 years back.

Slow-motion train wreck.

------
rdlecler1
I think this speaks to the importance of universal healthcare.

------
ttoinou

       Being on your own in the workforce often means you don't have the safety net of benefits and other forms of support that traditional workers do.  
    

Even the first sentence is kinda stupid. Benefits are a form of salary.
Independent have the freedom to buy the benefits they want and spend their
income as they please. What's wrong with that ?

    
    
      The best antidote to fear, she says, is to create a new social safety net where freelancers can rely on each other
    

I fear people like her trying to force us "for our own good"

~~~
vinceguidry
Unfortunately cash is not as efficient in procuring the sorts of services that
are normally provided by benefits, due to the advantages of structured
negotiation.

You are unlikely to get as good a deal from health insurance providers as your
employer.

~~~
acdha
Beyond just pricing there’s also a question of availability: prior to the ACA
you could easily find former contractors who needed to take a corporate job
because they or a family member had some sort of long-term condition or risk
factor which meant that insurance plans wouldn’t cover them at less than
extortionate rates.

Having insurance negotiated by individuals is a huge impediment for
entrepreneurship.

~~~
trfergus
This is why a Social Health Care system would be such a boon to
entrepreneurship. It would remove one of the biggest worries for people
creating their own business.

~~~
module0000
Yea - we can work and pay taxes to give you a "boon" as you try out your next
big idea. Sounds great for you, not so great for me. Hard pass.

~~~
acdha
As FireBeyond noted, the system you’re defending takes more of your money: not
only are U.S. medical costs substantially higher – on average! It’s even worse
for independent buyers — but the layers of inefficiency designed into the
system mean that the outcomes are worse.

The other side of this is considering what happens if you get sick: should we
just let you die and bill your next of kin for the cleanup costs? If you’re
not that heartless, all of the alternatives cost more than helping people get
medical care. I’d much prefer to pay a little more so people can get treated
rather than pay for them to be disabled and out of the workforce, or to spare
their families the crippling cost of trying to effectively be an insurance
pool with a single-digit number of members.

~~~
module0000
I'm not trolling you - but yes I am that heartless. This could have a lot to
do with upbringing, but mine was full of analogies of humanity to nature. One
of those was a firm belief that there is no "safety net" to catch me or my
family. If I succeed, they succeed - if I fail, then we all fail. Everyone is
responsible for themselves.

Everyone's particular set of values will vary, but that is mine.

------
rsbartram
There are pros and cons depending on your personal situation. Having that
workforce profile can be liberating if you have the right skill set to keep
you on track and organized. The freelance/GIG economy has a lot to offer not
only younger workers but veteran workers looking to add more tools to their
toolbox. [https://latechnews.org/los-angeles-gig-
economy/](https://latechnews.org/los-angeles-gig-economy/)

~~~
mywittyname
> Having that workforce profile can be liberating if you have the right skill
> set to keep you on track and organized.

Well yeah, some people are just awesome/lucky/blessed. Given nothing, they
know how to build great things. But this is a strong minority of people.

The majority of people are just normal, they may have one or two skill that
they are good at, but don't have the skills required to run their own company.
A person can be a great employee developer whose capable of building awesome
products, but an awful freelance one because they are not good at negotiation,
management, finances, etc.

It's a step away from the efficient specialization of a corporate structure,
where each employee only needs to be skilled at their particular job, to a
guild-like structure where everyone is a worker, manager, accountant, book
keeper and politician.

------
lev99
Is anyone here a member of the mentioned freelancer union? I'd be interested
in hearing a member's perspective.

~~~
zrail
I'm a member of Freelancer's Union. I don't interact with the union much, but
I do buy life and term disability insurance from them. By the time I joined
their health insurance offering changed from custom plans to just listing on
and off exchange individual plans. Not that there's anything wrong with that,
it's just nothing more than you can get on healthcare.gov or your state's
exchange, or shopping the off exchange market yourself.

------
gadders
I guess it must be different in the US vs the UK. Contracting in the UK (at
least in the IT world) is very popular and quite lucrative. (I guess not
having to worry about health insurance helps somewhat, though)

I've been permanent, and I've been contract, I really hope I get to finish the
rest of my career as a contractor.

~~~
yarrel
The US doesn't have the NHS.

~~~
gadders
>> (I guess not having to worry about health insurance helps somewhat, though)

------
Chiba-City
Our lack of universal and convenient primary care hinders the formation of
small or new large businesses. Our medical care quality is low due to lack of
data sharing that national health services enjoy for free. Our oddly expensive
but low performing healthcare is a pathetic vestige of our apartheid racist
labor history here in the USA. These issues do not concern fancy elective
medicine we also sadly fetishize amidst our ongoing dysfunctioning. We prefer
endless pitches of futuristic delusions than reliable heartbeat services. We
will continue to suffer this needless hamstringing until we catch up with
civilized people who can add, subtract, multiply and divide.

------
cbeach
As a contractor I don’t feel I opted out of a “social contract.”

Instead, I opting in to a tailored package of benefits that I choose myself. I
fund (at very reasonable cost) my insurances directly.

The phrase “social contract” sounds like statist utopian fiction to me. It’s a
sad world indeed, when employees can only rely on the impersonal, bureaucratic
HR department of their massive employer. Or the cold, dead hand of the state
and its civil servants.

Freedom lies in taking responsibility for your own affairs. Insuring yourself
against calamity. Saving money for a rainy day.

Step outside our one-size-fits-all system, and further both your career and
your security.

------
jonbarker
Very excited about MTurk's feature called Premium Qualifications. Anyone ever
have success with this?

------
prepend
I worked in both ways and there are pros and cons.

If you are a good negotiator then contracting is best. I prefer negotiating
the best rate then minmaxing I’m buying my own “benefits” rather than having
my employer pick for me.

At the end of the day you pay either way in the sense that high benefits
affect salary.

I’d rather get the straight hourly or daily rate and then build on costs for
vacation, pension, insurance, etc.

Now it stinks if the rate does not cover necessary expenses as I’ve seen IT
jobs try to straight line convert FTE to contractors (eg, $100k salary to
$50/hour rate) but that’s why you need to be good at negotiating.

~~~
maccard
> I prefer negotiating the best rate then minmaxing I’m buying my own
> “benefits” rather than having my employer pick for me.

This isn't always true though. For example, health insurance. My employers
package is far far better than anything I could get as an individual, and
costs 1/5 f the closest comparable package that I could buy on my own.

~~~
prepend
Oh definitely. When I ran my 1099 business it was impossible to get insurance
similar to my employers at the same cost. I had to pay a lot more.

But that’s what I mean by building it into your rate. If you know insurance
costs you $20k to be similar to what a big company pays only $10k, then add it
into your contract. Of course, contracting isn’t for everyone, especially if
you can’t get a high enough rate to be more valuable to you than w2.

------
King-Aaron
In my experience, the way the workforce is changing towards a contract economy
helps no one except for employers.

In the short term, contractors can get more money by far - hour to hour. But
when life events crop up such as illness, death in the family, personal
injury, etc, the house of cards can become unstuck pretty rapidly if people
haven't planned well enough for their rainy day.

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rb808
I wonder if contract workforce will fade as unemployment falls. The last 10
years the job market has been bad so many people had no choice but to work on
contract. Now they have more of a choice.

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downrightmike
Odds are that these people are not reskilling and will be left out of any new
boost we have. Also consider where and when any recovery happens, most people
already on tenuous ground are less likely to move to take advantage of that.

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jrowley
I guess one of the only advantages of more contractors is that may eventually
push us to single payer healthcare system.

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mi100hael
Employer "benefits" are things that are all freely available a la carte.
There's no reason contractors can't buy health insurance from a marketplace or
contribute to an IRA and wind up with the same end result. You as a contractor
just have to factor those additional costs in to your decision-making process
when evaluating compensation packages.

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noxxten
The "benefit" portion of that statement is that the employers typically take
on a portion of that cost so it's reduced for the employee. Have you ever
filed taxes as a freelancer? You nearly pay double because you're both the
employer AND employee in that situation... The same goes for other benefits as
well like healthcare - There are no group discounts when you're the only one
getting coverage.

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zip1234
The government provides incentives (tax exemption) for employer provided
insurance, which distorts the market. Seems like extending that benefit to
freelancers or eliminating it entirely would be extremely helpful.
[https://www.mercatus.org/publication/tax-exemption-
employer-...](https://www.mercatus.org/publication/tax-exemption-employer-
provided-health-insurance)

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lacker
"No benefits" is a somewhat strange way to think about it because all of these
benefits, you can buy yourself. They are just really expensive. The underlying
problem is that these jobs do not pay as much as people would like. That is
still a very real problem. But since this article does not discuss pay at all,
it's hard to really understand what's going on from the article.

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module0000
What's going on is ad revenue. Pick a touchy subject, write
something(references and quality not required), and watch the impressions
stack up.

