Not an answer but a thought: As a consultant myself, part of my rate is due to the extra risk I assume. At any time, one of my clients can ask me to come in an

Not an answer but a thought: As a consultant myself, part of my rate is due to the extra risk I assume. At any time, one of my clients can ask me to come in and handover the project and be on my way (it's happened). I would cut a full time employer some slack in salary simply because I wouldn't have to accept as much risk. (You can still get laid off anytime but still, it's less risky than contracting.) Personally, I think it unlikely that a full time employer would pay anywhere near what direct contracting does. Like a client said to me when I told them that I might be open to becoming a full time employee: "We can't pay an engineer $300K."