The Rise Of The Contract Workforce (npr.org) 229
An anonymous reader shares a report: A new NPR/Marist poll finds that 1 in 5 jobs in America is held by a worker under contract. Within a decade, contractors and freelancers could make up half of the American workforce. Workers across all industries and at all professional levels will be touched by the movement toward independent work -- one without the constraints, or benefits, of full-time employment. Policymakers are just starting to talk about the implications.
[...] It's not just business driving the trend. Surveys show a large majority of freelancers are free agents by choice. John Vensel is a contract attorney at Orrick who grew up a few miles from Wheeling, on the other side of the Pennsylvania state line. In his 20s, he was a freelance paralegal by day and a gig musician by night. "I actually wanted to be a rock star," he says. But these days there are no edgy vestiges of a former rocker, only a 47-year-old family man cooing over cellphone photos of his children, Grace and Gabe. In the two decades in between, Vensel worked full-time corporate jobs. But he was laid off in 2010, on the eve of his graduation from his night-school law program. He graduated with huge piles of debt, into one of the worst job markets. For a time, Vensel commuted three hours round-trip to a full-time job in Pittsburgh. But more recently, he quit and took up contracting to stay near home in Wheeling.
[...] It's not just business driving the trend. Surveys show a large majority of freelancers are free agents by choice. John Vensel is a contract attorney at Orrick who grew up a few miles from Wheeling, on the other side of the Pennsylvania state line. In his 20s, he was a freelance paralegal by day and a gig musician by night. "I actually wanted to be a rock star," he says. But these days there are no edgy vestiges of a former rocker, only a 47-year-old family man cooing over cellphone photos of his children, Grace and Gabe. In the two decades in between, Vensel worked full-time corporate jobs. But he was laid off in 2010, on the eve of his graduation from his night-school law program. He graduated with huge piles of debt, into one of the worst job markets. For a time, Vensel commuted three hours round-trip to a full-time job in Pittsburgh. But more recently, he quit and took up contracting to stay near home in Wheeling.
Glad I'm retiring soon (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Glad I'm retiring soon (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Glad I'm retiring soon (Score:4, Insightful)
This has been going on for a LOOOONG time.
At least a couple of decades ago, I realized that there was no loyalty of the employer to the employee.
The W2 employee is JUST as readily fired/let go as the 1099 contractor.
I figured, hey, if you have the job security of a contractor, you might as well get the bill rate of a contractor.
Just make sure to incorporate yourself...makes life easier.
I went the S-Corp route, never looked back.
Re:Glad I'm retiring soon (Score:4, Interesting)
Founder Robert W. Welch Jr., Fred C. Koch
Who funds the Tea Party side of the GOP? Koch Industries.
Just a bunch of self interested billionaires spewing endless propaganda.
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How cute. He actually believes unions care about him beyond his dues and adding a head to the collective threat of a strike...
Re: Glad I'm retiring soon (Score:2)
Neither do the vast majority of unions. Every single one of the large unions has been caught red handed in some kind of corruption scheme -- AFL-CIO, CWA, UAW, Teamsters -- you name it. That last one also felt a sense of accomplishment for holding their ground when they forced hostess into bankruptcy, and the union boss talked it up as a victory even though all of the workers lost their jobs while he went home still having a fatter paycheck than those workers ever dreamed of.
Unions in Europe are decent, (no
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Uh, bullshit. Hostess union acc
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I was a Union Steward for my local and I can tell you from personal experience that the only benefit Unions have provided for the last 3 decades at least is at the local level. The National office preyed on us constantly sucking money out of us while they whored around on "working" vacations in Puerto Rico and Hawaii. The top level of the big unions is so corrupt it's indescribable. We struggled to pay for arbitration fees while they jetted around like kings. That is the reason the Unions are dying.
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no, the unions are dying because the powerful hate competition and want us to return to the turn of the century (100+ yrs ago) where we were LITERALLY wage *slaves*.
unbalanced power is what they crave and enjoy. unions help balance that power. normies like you and I don't 'deserve' to be able to bargain equally. cops, sure, they're allowed to have unions (why?? why do they deserve them but normies don't? that right there shows you its not ALL bad, with unions; but that they don't want US to have equal
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I considered it worth it because at the local level most outfits have stewards and officers that care about their members. I successfully arbitrated many cases and forced management to abide by the contract but our ability to litigate was severely curtailed by lack of support and often outright hindrance from the National and Regional office. We could have done much better with a real union at the upper level.
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I mostly agree with you but without the parasites at the top it could be so much better.
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Congratulations on achieving financial independence but I fail to see how it's only the Republican fault that the wealth gap has increased. I can't even lay the blame on both parties because the global economy allows the wealthy more avenues to maximize their assets.
I also fail to see why people entering the workforce today can't follow the same process. Live below your means, save like a bandit, and assume the government is incompetent and rely on them as little as possible. The recipe works. If the econom
You do know a major crash is comming, right (Score:2)
This is me... (Score:3)
try before you buy (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:try before you buy (Score:5, Insightful)
It's getting increasingly difficult to fire poor performing employees. C
With the proliferation of "Right to Work" laws and states it has gotten much easier to get rid of any employee for practically any non-discriminatory reason, including their politics.
Non-union employees have essentially zero job protections and with the death of unions we have fewer and fewer union employees.
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Overall, though, with automation and off-shoring we're headed for a train wreck.
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Contract workers is effectively "try before you buy" on an employee.
I prefer "rent to own"...
Actually, my favorite story was that a certain place wanted me to start earlier, so they moved money out of their furniture budget to pay me. So there was a running joke about my name being "Otto Man" or "Chester Field".
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What do you want us to say? (Score:5, Insightful)
The situation sucks. Not only in the present but it was make the future suck as well because everyone caught in it are going to feel a crunch come retirement, if they ever do get to retire. There's no guarantees with the mighty 401(k) and IRA that are tied to market forces which we have no command or control over.
There are structural problems with our society that allow this to happen. It's not only coded in our employment laws but also in the anti-union bent of corporate profit imperatives. We want people to take responsibility for their own success but remove every single tool that might be used for that through black-letter law or through making it so expensive in seeking redress of wrongs it become untenable, even in principle, to see it done. We allow for unilateral NDAs to be upheld. We allow for so much to be hidden away that even if I were to invest the time (as if I had the time to invest) looking into a potential employer, I wouldn't find be able to find the problems they have.
So what do you want us to talk about here? We know about it. We work as well as we can within it. There's public outcry but no political will to do anything. This is the endpoint of 40 years of corporate political influence. What's there to be surprised about it?
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The situation sucks. Not only in the present but it was make the future suck as well because everyone caught in it are going to feel a crunch come retirement, if they ever do get to retire. There's no guarantees with the mighty 401(k) and IRA that are tied to market forces which we have no command or control over.
I disagree. It allows tremendous freedom to those who prefer that sort of employment arrangement. For example, if you only want to work 6 months out of the year, that is sort of difficult to accomplish with a traditional full-time job. However as a contractor or gig worker, you can easily do that if you want.
Also, if you are concerned about the markets, then invest your IRA or 401(k) in something other than stocks. You do know that you can invest in precious metals, government bonds, real estate, foreig
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The way the current law is heavily favors the 9-5 employee over contracting. Which I would venture distorts the number of jobs that could and should be contracting gigs out there.
Someone choosing to contract over being a W-2 truly is disadvantaged in many ways. This includes taxation (pays the full FICA tax), benefits (no individual health insurance market worth a damn), worker protection, vacation/sick/parental leave and retirement savings (401k's way superior to IRA's).
Even if the hourly rate is 2x, it st
Re:What do you want us to say? (Score:5, Informative)
I'll agree that independent contracting is NOT for everyone, but if you want the freedom and wish to put in the extra work, it can be quite lucrative and satisfying.
First, with regard to the FICA (and medicare, the "employment taxes"). Yep, you have to pay both sides of this, HOWEVER there is a way around this somewhat.
You can form a S-Corp. With this you pay yourself (as sole employee) a "reasonable"salary, and you only have to pay the employment taxes on that "reasonable salary".
Example: Say you bill out $100K annually.
You pay yourself a "salary" of $40K. Throughout the year, you pay fed and state taxes and both halves of the FICA/Medicare taxes ONLY on that $40K.
At the end of the year, the remaining $60K, you deduct your business expenses, etc....and then the remainder falls through on your personal taxes, and you only pay federal and state taxes on that. That is your "disbursement".
Yep, takes some paperwork shuffling, but can be done.
For vacation/sick and health and retirement, well, you have to know what your bill rate is to negotiate.
And it is likely quite a bit more that double as you'd mentioned.
Over the years, I've been quite happy with my insurance I buy..I get a "high deductible" policy, usually with like $1300 deductible. With this I can open a HSA (Health Savings Account) that I fund fully each year Pre-tax. I pay my routine medical costs with this and the insurance policy is there for emergency care. Actually, after Obama care, the insurance part got MUCH more $$...due to the requirements to have stupid coverage I don't need (I don't ever need prenatal or maternity coverage, I'm a guy and not having kids)....but even so, you do your bill rate to cover that. It's not that difficult, and the coverage MORE than serves me well with my medical needs. And I am a bit older now, some pre-existing stuff, but still...is not that much a strain.
I have investment accounts set up and I put money way pre-tax to the max, and some that is post tax. I have in my bill rate enough to cover me to take off about 3 weeks a year sick/vacation.
Yes, it takes more of my time, but I get the benefits of making my own hours, taking off when needed. I'm fortunately enough to work remotely, so I can really set up shop wherever I want..I can be working from a bar in Key West if I wish....
But no, it isn't for everyone....but it can be a nice and rewarding way to work. You bring in a LOT of $$, but you have to be disciplined enough to save for taxes, retirement and expenses....but even after that, you can make enough to have a good bit of disposable fun money too, depending on the field you are in.
It helps if you have people skills too...to get and KEEP longer term gigs.
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Agreed..
But most of the complainers out there live beyond their means and work as contractors to collect that extra bit of cash to spend now, instead of saving it for the future. I know because I've had people tell me that's why they contract.
Too few people take responsibility for planning for their financial futures and end up looking at trying to live the 20 years after retirement on Social Security alone. When they get there, the suddenly realize that what Social Security pays doesn't scratch the sur
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There are structural problems with our society that allow this to happen.
What the.... Seriously?
You DO remember from history class that Social Security, Medicare, 401ks and pension plans didn't exist for the bulk of the USA's history. Seems to me that prior to the great depression folks lived pretty well and dealt with retirement just fine, caring for their own families, not just letting government do it.
The ISSUE in society is the "I have to have it now" bent we generally all have and a total lack of discipline in financial planning for rainy days. It used to be that being
Re:What do you want us to say? (Score:4, Insightful)
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There is a whole lot more over spenders than under spenders.
My wife almost died a couple of times too when my kids where very young. Once from pancreatitis when a retained gall stone blocked her bile duct even though her gall bladder had been removed 2 years before and the second time when she came down with sarcoidosis stumping her doctors for almost a week. My kids where both in grade school at the time. So I know what you are talking about.
Not knowing when you are going to die is only an excuse to sp
Re:What do you want us to say? (Score:5, Insightful)
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I'm calling BS on this for most people.. I dare say MOST people CAN and should save for retirement.
If your earnings don't allow for saving for retirement, then you are living at the subsistence social security level for your whole life and won't be shocked when retirement happens. So if you think "comfortable" is something above what you could do on SS when you are old and your current income allows you to spend more than that, you are trading today's "comfort" for decades of uncomfortable poverty if you
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Most people are not addicted to credit cards. Most people are just trying to make the bills from month to month.
Living paycheck to paycheck has little to do with income and a lot to do with spending. I know people making $200K per year and living paycheck to paycheck. I know people making $30K per year who have healthy savings.
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Sounds like the "up from your bootstraps" mantra. Except you look at statistics and the #1 correlation to how far you get in life is "how much money my daddy had". When people can't make a living wage, they have no choice but to spend what they make.
Bourgeoisiesplaining to the poor is incredibly obnoxious. "Hey poor person, eat Ramen for two meals a day for four decades straight and you can afford a house you can enjo
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Sounds like the "up from your bootstraps" mantra.
Nonsense. It's certainly true that there is an income level below which things become impossible. But that is actually not the case for most people in the middle and lower-middle class in the United States.
Bourgeoisiesplaining to the poor is incredibly obnoxious.
And so is inventing assholish words like "Bourgeoisiesplaining", as is using them with people who didn't come from anything remotely like "Bourgeosie". I'm also not talking about those who are actually poor, but the large majority who do have enough to live, but just don't manage it well.
Please actuall
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Living paycheck to paycheck has little to do with income and a lot to do with spending. I know people making $200K per year and living paycheck to paycheck. I know people making $30K per year who have healthy savings.
True, but there is a limit. If you pay $500/month rent, that's 6K a year. Big chunk of that 30K just for one thing. And many places don't have rents or house payments that low. Add a car, utility bills, phone bills, and there's not much left. Then the car breaks, your roof leaks, you get sick. You're in trouble even if you haven't screwed up financially.
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If it is a continual struggle to meet one's obligations month to month and you cannot save anything because of it, you need to reduce expenses.
You need to get out of your bubble bobby. For many people, there are no more expenses to cut without choosing to be homeless. For a few, cutting expenses means dying to whatever ailment is sucking their 40k salary dry and then some, thus the credit cards.
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Except prior to the Great Depression, half of all Americans lived in poverty, and 80% of seniors did too. Let's not go back to the Gilded Age.
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Again that's BS.
DURING the great depression we had those numbers, but not before the stock market crashed.
Most people lived in rural society and could grow their own food on the family farm for most of our history. Poverty based on income doesn't usually measure barter or what you can grow on your own. So it's kind of hard to describe "poverty" in terms of per capita income back in the day.
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It was the farmers that were lazy. Contributing members of farming communities generally worked an average of 2 hours a day year-round. Imagine surviving on two hours a day today.
I assume you are joking..
I grew up on a farm... 2 hours a day on average? Seriously? It took 2 hours just to milk the cows in the morning... Then there was feeding them, cleaning the barn after the inevitable happens after you feed them AND then milking them in the evening which too another 2 hours. In between morning chores and the evening milking was all the seasonal stuff, including fence repair and putting up hay in the summer, breaking ice and feeding hay in the winter and a whole host of odd jobs r
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I grew up on a farm... 2 hours a day on average? Seriously? It took 2 hours just to milk the cows...
I'll stop you right there. Your problem was choosing to be a rancher instead of a farmer. Grow winter wheat, corn, soybeans. Then work 14 hour days every day for six weeks a year. The rest is lazing about, watching youtube, and shitposting on slashdot while raking in 120k per family member per year...or 90k if you don't have your own silos and equipment.
7 * 14 * 6 / 365 = 1.61 hours on average per day. With random maintenance here and there, checking the market, yeah it's probably 2 hours a day of actual wo
"Vensel commuted three hours round-trip..." (Score:2)
Oh, the horrors!
Sounds like a typical commute into London, rather than some extreme bad case.
One of the reasons that I have worked for myself for all but ~6 weeks out of the last ~30Y is to have a bit more control over commuting...
Rgds
Damon
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A typical commute into London IS an extreme bad case.
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Well, more subtly, I believe research suggests that the maximum tolerable one-way commute across many countries/cultures is 90 minutes, and in the case of expensive places such as London people move just far enough away, saving on property prices, to make that close to the typical commute for the area. And people do indeed commute in from a long away away from London, such as Brighton (and the reaches of Essex and Kent).
From where I am now I can be from my desk at home to a desk in the City of London in 75
Full time contractors... (Score:2)
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Here are the different types of "contractors": -Traditional full-time employees who also have a contract with the company. Probably less common in the US, but more common elsewhere. Could also be considered union workers. They receive full benefits from the company, but have a little extra positioning when it comes to not getting fired for no real reason.
-Staff augmen
Because Companies are mistreating their Employees (Score:5, Insightful)
The vast majority of people would not cast off the security of a large organization and take on all the risk of going freelance while there are alternative. But increasingly the Companies are asking for more and more from their employees and giving less and less in return, to the point where the Hassle&Restriction of a large organization out weights diminishing expectation of Job Security that is the whole point.
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I'd be cool with this... (Score:4, Interesting)
...if we had a basic floor by some mechanism, where someone couldn't fall below, leading to a semi-permanent drain on society, and a society that was unwilling to have people die for their own benefit.
You know, something closer to the biblical ideal espoused in the 'new testament' part of the most consistently referenced book in this nation, but with the freedoms espoused in the other largely revered document, our constitution.
A 'basic income' system would work, but some mix of unions/safety net if that wasn't possible could at least mitigate those falling through the cracks.
Education also helps - but everyone can be suckered, or just have the bad luck to be taken advantage of for too long. Even the smartest folks can live most of their lives in abject circumstances for the sake of loved ones, or ideals where that intelligence doesn't help them.
A more ideal case would be if everyone had some base line, could be sure that everyone they loved would at least survive in some level of comfort, and were free to help, not in the confines of a arbitrary-hour work week, but could use tools to be available whenever made sense, without fear of becoming bankrupt later in life for pursuing whatever they felt helped others the most.
Money should still matter - what folks are willing to reward more or less can still matter... but it shouldn't be increasingly the ONLY thing that matters, above life, death, and everything else.
Shared social value should matter for SOMETHING, shouldn't it?
Ryan Fenton
Re:I'd be cool with this... (Score:5, Insightful)
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I know - and I agree - but most Americans are completely unaware of, or told vehemently wrong things about every other social system in the world.
Asked about the same ideals that make those other industrialized nations work objectively better towards those ideals - like healthcare, social mobility, education, etc - they would agree wholeheartedly with the ideals and even mechanisms - but then turn away at the labels and identity politics.
It's a silly, confused little pocket of perspectives we've built up in
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Nah. As addressed earlier, I've got folks I love and want to help.
Also, look to history. Like, any extended period of history. There's a general trend over time.
The first trend is peace. There's a very strong trend towards less violence over time, across all places in the world, all societies, etc. The worst wars of the past centuries are less violent, in terms of population killed violently, than the peace of previous centuries.
The second trend is welfare of the average person. There's definitely set
Re:I'd be cool with this... (Score:5, Insightful)
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You mean every other country in the developed world?
Yes, money is important, but there becomes a point where a country should decide to be more than a fiefdom, a place where a few people live off other people's labor, and the rest know nothing but "let them eat cake" replies and despair. This makes for a great sci-fi dystopia setting, but not a place where one wants to send their sons and daughters to live in. Capitalism needs some type of sanity checks, or else there will be nothing left but polluted air
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We've got that floor (Score:2)
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But, the poverty line is 7 feet high!
My bro did this for a few years (Score:2)
The other problem was he could never get a raise because his contract agency had established how much he was willing to work for, so even if the job paid more the contract agency just pocketed the difference. He didn't have a degree so he needed a contract agency to get past the
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it sucked. Very inconsistent pay. He'd be on 9 months and off 3. Which is fine if you're in your 20s but not so much when you've got kids to raise. You're always playing catch up. I forget why but you can't get for unemployment.
You do not get it because you do not pay it. Unemployment insurance is taken out of your paycheck when you are full time, but not when you contract. One of those things you have to allow for when you negotiate the rate.
As for the gaps... They come. Every time. You know they are coming. If you do not have 3-6 months of expenses to draw from, you are asking for pain. And if you do not make enough to save that, cut your expenses or raise your rate.
The other problem was he could never get a raise because his contract agency had established how much he was willing to work for, so even if the job paid more the contract agency just pocketed the difference. He didn't have a degree so he needed a contract agency to get past the HR filters.
Get a new pimp! I work with several IT firms, and pic
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One of those things you have to allow for when you negotiate the rate.
This is why these jobs go to 20-30 year olds that can always live in their parent's basement again if they have to and don't care about EI.
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That's why you do direct, independent 1099 contracting...you incorporate yourself and subcontract yourself out. This way YOU negotiate the bill rate you want to work for. Never be a W2 employee to a contract house, that's the worst of both worlds.
You may do it for awhile to get contacts, but that's it.
Well, him not having a degree was a hindrance...but that's a problem he shoul
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Then, those are people with no motivation, and they will likely NEVER excel in life, make enough money to be comfortable and save for retirement, etc.
Part of life and succeeding IS being able to stand up for yourself, and fight and win.
This is a competition out here for all of us. Its been that way ever since there was man on this planet....its the same game, just the parameters have changed.
Those who don
we need single payer health care! (Score:2)
we need single payer health care!
we need crack down to the fake 1099'er where W2 (Score:2)
we need crack down to the fake 1099'er where if you don't have the level of control that an true 1099'er gets then they must put you on the W2
It's a mix of things, really ... good and bad. (Score:2)
Some of the Slashdot commenters seem to take the stance that this is a bad thing; a result of a workplace environment that's gotten so bad, you'd rather just risk going it on your own as a freelancer.
I'm not so sure?
For example, I work for a company that employs maybe 100 full-time people, but also keeps about 200 additional freelancers on a list of people they use on a contract basis for projects. Some of these folks were former employees who decided on their own to go freelance.
Having worked with a number
Don't work for Orrick (Score:2)
It's insulting for management-level (Score:2)
I've had several headhunters contact me about positions with manager or director in the title, but they're rent-to-own: Start as contract, and if we like you, we might hire you in a year or so.
I have been in this industry for over 30 years, and I'm well known in the business -- I do industry conference presentations, blogging, loudly volunteer on standards development, etc.. If you can't actually hire me, I don't want to work for you.
Part of the problem is that the headhunters are the contract agency, so it
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^^^ This IS the right attitude. I do listen to the occasional recruiter, but only if it's a velvet-rope, interviews-are-formality path into a high-paying directly-employed-by-corporate-with-benefits position.
Contracted managers are also a strange message for corporations to send THEIR employees. "We're not really sure if YOUR DEPARTMENT manager is worth keeping
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You say this like it is a bad thing?
There a LOT of us 1099 contractor types, doing real jobs (not uber)....what's wrong with us catching a break for once?
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Because it comes at the expense of people who can least afford to give you tax breaks.
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Wow...how does enjoying a RARE tax break, allowing me to keep a few of my hard earned dollars make me selfish?
Does it matter? (Score:2)
Does it matter if Bob Cratchet is a contractor or FTE? Either way, Scrooge is looking to get rid of him as soon as he can. It's the power imbalance in the system that's the problem, not the specifics of the employment contract.
Not Just the United States, but a Global Trend (Score:2)
An Unfortunate Trend (Score:5, Interesting)
Why do people like instability? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm one of those strange people who prefers a full time job, with a steady paycheck. I know the absolute dollar value for contracts in my field is higher than I get as an FTE, but everyone I know doing contract work is constantly hustling for a new job and never knows where their money will be coming from. I work for an IT services company so I get tons of exposure to different projects. I'm not sure I'd feel the same way if I didn't get work that varied often, but knowing you're going to be paid and can cover your expenses is a relief. I'm not a natural salesman, and really don't want to be looking for work again 2 weeks into a 3-month contract. We employ contractors in some positions where I work, and it's not exactly a ringing endorsement of the contracting lifestyle overhearing them calling headhunters, juggling bills, etc.
People with families, houses and other fixed committments tend to favor steady income. Companies want a disposable, nomadic workforce that never puts down roots and can load their belongings into their car at a moment's notice. I'm strange in that I think it's a good idea for people to stick around, see their projects through, and get involved in the communities they live in. I know employer/employee loyalty is at an all-time low but it doesn't have to be. I think well-run companies that think long term (a minority, I know) don't really want a payroll full of mercenaries that they can't really count on. One of the best things that could happen through the tax code and accounting rules would be to encourage employment of FTEs over contractors. Right now, companies do everything they can to avoid hiring people because there's no incentive. If you made it so that retaining and paying employees is cheaper than a bunch of hired guns, lots of people would be much less stressed.
Because when you're young the extra pay is nice (Score:2)
A common practice (Score:2)
This is a fairly common flow of events, and often goes a little like this:
CEO doesn't like wage bill on balance sheet.
CEO looks at workers and can't figure out what they all do.
CEO decides to downsize.
CEO hires a consulting company to conduct interviews and tell CEO what s/he wants to hear.
Consulting company recommends firing workers, and CEO acts.
Time passes.
CEO doesn't like sales figures on balance sheet.
CEO discovers they actually need workers to get stuff done.
CEO hires back workers as consultants on co
By choice my ass (Score:2)
Many free agents aren't free by choice. There is just no other way to earn money.
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And the staffing company rep doesn't like it when you call her your pimp...but, she won't fire you for it* and it is fun.
*You could be caught with a dead girl or a live boy, and they wouldn't fire you as long as the client company doesn't find out. They're afraid of the contract going to a rival company.
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Keep playing with your email and phone while the old timers who got us to the moon using slide rulers continue to do the work.
I'm half joking here, but the problem isn't so much the older employees as much as companies do a terrible job passing knowledge.
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Or git better. And get paid a contracting fee for your skills. Enough to cover your own insurance and other benefits. And take time off between gigs as you see fit.
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One amendment I'd make is for worker's comp. I'll agree one should not be *dependent* upon the employer, but on the other hand there does need to be an ever present knob to twist to have companies self-interest align with worker safety (hazardous environment in theory should translate to higher worker's comp premiums).
The health insurance linked to employer is just bonkers.
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What's funny to me is that were I work contractors actually cost more than regular employees per slot. However that doesn't usually translate to the individual contractors being paid more. When I hired on as a contractor, I somehow was given a form that I probably wasn't supposed to see. That form detailed how much the company was paying for the slot I was filling, my salary accounted for less than 40% of that. Now it is true that employees cost more than just their salary, however in this case there was al
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That form detailed how much the company was paying for the slot I was filling, my salary accounted for less than 40% of that.
So you weren't really a contractor. You were an employee of a job shop that sent you out on assignments. Carry the contract yourself and take home 100% of the fees.
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In one of my first jobs, our company transitioned us all from employees to contractors, we all received an immediate 33% pay rise and I was told that the
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Who woulda thought that if you impose multiple and ever-increasing burdens on employers, that they'll start to hire fewer people as employees?
While unfunded mandates on employers definitely push companies to want to decrease their employee costs, I think that's just one relatively minor issue among the much larger elephant in the room. The real problem is that the forces that push back against eliminating jobs and decreasing compensation are waning. If all government mandates were suddenly eliminated overnight, I believe that the current cost reduction will continue and even accelerate. Executives are incentivized to cut costs to maximize thei
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Do you sprinkle some sugar on the corporatist boots before licking them, or do you take them black?
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Corporate personhood should be abolished, corporate political contributions outlawed, etc. That's all well and good. All that happy horseshit? I'm for it. What I'm against is punishing corporations for hiring American workers. That's not pro-corporate; that's anti-masochism.
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Doesn't change the fact you went on about companies not hiring 'because there are burdens on employers' which is straight up corporatist whackjobbery.
And you love Puerto Ricans [youtube.com] as long as they don't move next door....
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Falling production costs for food, consumer goods and a lot of other stuff over the past 50+ years has masked a lot of stuff. A lot of those countries that are "working" so wonderfully have massive unemployment, particularly in the younger generations. And if we look at specifics, it's fairly obvious that third party health insurance (such as our system or Switzerland) has not worked better.
The damage being done is gradual and long term, but it's staring
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That's why you negotiate for a HIGH bill rate, so you can cover your vacation/sick time off, and health benefits.
It's not rocket surgery....you have to factor all those things into your bill rate.
Lots of people do it, and make enough money over and above that to live well and retire.
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You have always been interchangeable and expendable. Your mission, whether you choose to accept it or not, is to sell the commodity that is your labor to the highest bidder.
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It is pretty rare for a contract firm (aka body shop) to offer any benefits at all. Generally all they do is pay you subpar wages and mark up what they billing the customer, pocketing the difference.