Is work life balance really better when you have to worry bout finding your next gig and also that everything’s on you (don’t have a team/others to fall back on)?
If you bounce from full time to full time with 75% unemployment you are a no-hire many places and almost universally in a downturn. Consulting and contracting is often used to be vague and even pretend you are unsuccessfully looking for contracts a lot of the time precisely because that is the reality for many and more acceptable for many types of employment.