It's not just negotiation strength. The theory of the firm gives lots of reasons why employment can afford to reward people better than individual contractors.

It's not just negotiation strength. The theory of the firm gives lots of reasons why employment can afford to reward people better than individual contractors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_the_firm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_the_firm Though if you have niche skills or knowledge (and I'd include contacts in that), you can be better off with contracts that leverage your specialisms specifically, and not waste your time with work that can be done cheaper by more freely available labour.