[markvdb]

An example from Belgium. Imagine you're an employee and earning 38k€ a year including bonuses. Now you want to start a side activity as an independent contractor. You pay about 53.5% of taxes on this amount. On what is left after taxation, you pay 20.5% social contributions that you get literally nothing in return for. If you choose the cheapest "social contributions" provider. That means you get to keep about 36.96€ for every 100€ in pretax profit.

Don't you think this steers people in different directions?

[ENGNR]

Wouldn't the equivalent contractor wage factor those costs in though, plus a risk premium for short term work ideally

[jpttsn]

What makes you think it would?

[RugnirViking]

The fact that they have to actually hire people for the position, and therefore need a decent value proposition?

[jpttsn]

When the costs of hiring for the position are much higher, "need to hire" can start to look fuzzy. Just like the "need to buy a soda" is different at $2 and $20. Demand for labor is at least somewhat elastic.