My understanding is that subcontractors are far more common now than they were ~20 years ago. Perhaps the subcontractors that did exist 20+ years ago were treat

My understanding is that subcontractors are far more common now than they were ~20 years ago. Perhaps the subcontractors that did exist 20+ years ago were treated equally poorly, but it is relevant that there are many more people in this position now. For example, it used to be common for janitorial staff to be actual employees of the companies whose campuses they cleaned and maintained. That is no longer the case. A legendary example is an early Google chef who earned equity and was made quite wealthy in the process — while Google chefs today are not (to the best of my understanding) still employees.