Books could be written to answer this. A contractor could be viewed as a business relationship -- here is the contract, do what it says or don't get paid/the m

Books could be written to answer this. A contractor could be viewed as a business relationship -- here is the contract, do what it says or don't get paid/the money back from you. Certainly there is value for having work done on a contract. The contractor should be able to do it themselves or subcontract it out. An employee could be seen as a single individual who shows up on time and is paid for doing so. It is the employer's job to make sure the individual is doing something productive whatever those tasks may be. That is a very simple separation and not really correct, but certainly there are good reasons for there to be legal separations. Also consider there are so many legal expectations for the two depending on where one is located. A big challenge for startups riding the line. Personally I am more concerned about basic labor rights & employer abuse rather than guarantees of benefits and minimum wages. One only has to look at migrant labor abroad to get a good idea of just how bad it gets -- slavery alive and well.