Originally Posted by Bostonian
Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
But due to the miracle of "consulting" work, you can be empowered to work on contract now, as a consultant. Doing the same things that you once did when working for Fortune 500 Employer. Only now being empowered to pay for your own benefits, and being compensated by the hour.
If your spouse has good benefits, especially health insurance, increasing the fraction of your compensation that is paid in cash makes sense. The labor market is a market. Employers trying to reduce their costs is not more surprising or blameworthy than consumers trying to reduce their costs.

Oh, this is the new state-of-the-art philosophy of the Fortune 50 with their technical staff, believe me. "Why are we paying all these scientists, anyway? Didn't we get rid of R&D? Maybe we could just call them in when it seems like we want them..."

Ergo, when I say "compensated by the hour" here, what I actually mean is that a 45 hr work week on salary becomes a 50 hour contract week for no benefits and at 2/3rd (or less) the pay on an hourly basis. When you add in the loss of benefits, it's more like 40% of previous compensation.

So sure, I'm definitely seeing how this model benefits shareholders, and why analysts would swoon over it. Just sucks to be a worker bee. And yes, theoretically, workers could just "move on" to a new location, new employment opportunity, new-new-new life... but in practical terms, that is a LOT less straightforward in a tanked real estate market and when the other spouse still HAS employment locally...

I'm also left wondering (and I'm not the only one) where the heck these magical new "product innovations" are going to come from, exactly, since scientists and engineers are not being stabled in any way that fosters innovation to begin with.



Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.