[Consultant32452]

This discussion is not a comparison between a low income contract job and a job as a neurosurgeon. It's a comparison between a low income contract job and the type of "traditional" job that same worker might be qualified for.

Buying your own workman's comp is 0.0075% of your salary in my state ($0.75 per $100 in salary). Disability insurance is $30/mo for $50k salary, so if you're making $30k/yr then disability will be even less. You can make a budget, avoid consumer debt, and save an emergency fund at virtually any level of income. The median national income is $32k/yr for a single person. Sure, a lot of people making that kind of money also have bad personal finance habits. But the idea that it's impossible to live a decent life on the kind of income that half of all single people in the country are making is hyperbole.

[TheCoelacanth]

Your numbers seem unrealistically low for the types of jobs that low income contract workers usually have. For a job like software development where very few types of injuries are likely to occur on the job and where very few types of injuries would prevent you from performing the job the rates are low. For a higher risk job, like driving the rates will be higher. For instance, in Florida a driver's worker's comp will cost almost ten times the number you stated[1].

[1] https://www.floridawc.com/workerscompensation/policy/rates/

[Consultant32452]

For the majority of those jobs you're going to be making more money, too. Take, for example, construction work. Sure, your disability, workman's comp, etc. is going to be higher than if you're working a desk job. But at the same time the going rate for a random illegal immigrant you pick up at Home Depot around here is $20/hr.