[WalterBright]

When I worked at Boeing in 1980 or so, there were a lot of contract engineers there. We did the same work. The difference was:

1. full time employees got benefits, contractors did not

2. full time employees got notice before layoffs, contractors could get dismissed at a moment's notice

3. contractors got paid double what full time employees did

[turdprincess]

The pay is an unequal comparison though. A W2 job gives you:

* 5 - 10 paid holidays like Labor Day, 4th of July, etc...

* another 10 - 20 paid days off for PTO

* 7% less taxes for social security, medicare

* 401k match

* health insurance

So actually, getting paid twice as much hourly might not be too much extra at the end of the day.

[WalterBright]

At the time, the value of the benefits package was about 45% of the salary (this calculation includes the things you mentioned). The other 55% was for the extra risk the contractor took on.