Contracting on these rates requires a lot more experience than you think and a highly sought out specialization often FoTM. Getting yearly fixed term contracts

Contracting on these rates requires a lot more experience than you think and a highly sought out specialization often FoTM. Getting yearly fixed term contracts on £500 a day is also not easy even with the former. You also lose your pension contribution which in the UK can be upto 25% of your salary (I’m on 24), ISA, insurance protection against dismissal with no cause and many other things that employers provide. Contracting isn’t a solution it’s worse than at will employment and the OP is right outside of a few cases the salary in Europe is pitiful and the safety net does not cover anything really it only ensures that there is almost no social mobility upwards. Europe despite having the world’s largest social redistribution event aka WW2 is still the mother of all old money and isn’t changing because outside those who in the US would become billionaires it’s nearly impossible to become financially independent in Europe as a salaried employee and even as a sole trader.