it's not specific to America some countries, especially Germany, have laws against 'renting' workforce so that you can get workers by escaping the union contra

it's not specific to America some countries, especially Germany, have laws against 'renting' workforce so that you can get workers by escaping the union contract you have within your company. But most don't. I'm in France, where it is technically illegal. But 'consulting' firms are among the most powerful companies of the country. Workers at other companies are glad to not share profits with the engineers who truly work. So consulting firms thrive anyway. You can mostly get to work though a vendor, as an engineer. It's very hard to be hired by the company you work for, unless you have connections. Vendors overcharge companies, who would be better off actually hiring workers. But HR at large industrial companies are often so deep into neo-liberal conspiracy theories that they think a person with a working contract and a union will lead the company to its loss. (while always being bailed out by the government). For example the power company (EDF) has made so many workers redundant in the past decade, that they now struggles to operate nuclear power plants and can't find anyone who still works with steel to maintain them. (they've been so poorly managed that they're being 'renationalized', another fancy work for bailed out before they collapse) However, consulting has become so big, and large industrial companies have lost so much knowledge by getting consultants and subcontractors, that you now can now make a bit more money by working with these vendors. So, to summarize, HR and a few top workers thought they would make a lot more money by getting contractors. But contractors aren't hired or bound to their company anymore, know what they tried to do, and don't care about charging high rates and extra services.