Contracting wage vs Employee wage
Seems that this contractor versus employ topic is a sensitive matter. As a contractor working in Belgium I can confirm that this topic is universally controversial.
Although the calculations for employee costs are totally different over here, the issues stay the same:
. The price of employees must include: social security, taxes, training, health insurance, commuting compensations and other benefits (computer, fast internet connection,)
. The price for the contractor is fixed (aside from the overtime issue)
From the contractors point of view the price that he asked is NOT the net wage that he earns each month.
It is at this point that regular employees get frustrated, they see the huge amount that is paid for the contractor andthey compare it to their own monthly (net) wage. What a contractor really earns can sometimes be 1/3 of the monthly payments.
What an employee costs can be 3 times his net wage.
I have made a spreadsheet that calculates the net income of a contractor. This is very specific for the situation in Belgium but if people are interested I can email it to them.
