[jen20]

It’s uncommon in the US because freelancing means having to source your own - usually both expensive and crappy - healthcare.

It used to be incredibly common in the UK - half the decent devs in London were contractors making 2-3x what permanent employees made. It’s now uncommon because the government nerfed it with IR35 rules.

[elcritch]

What are those IR35 rules all about?

[LtWorf]

Probably something along the lines of "if you only have 1 customer you're an employee"…

It's illegal in most of EU but several countries do not check. So I know PWC in italy hires external contractors but tells them to be in the office at 9 and so on… just a scam to not pay sick leave, parental leave, vacations and pension basically.