Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds

Re:Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds by cletus on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @10:35AM (#12734763)

I used to do contracting in the UK in large part because salaries were pitiful compared to contracting rates and when contracting you ended up paying way less tax so got to keep much more of your already higher income.

But 600 pounds is now like $750. Assume 4 weeks vacation, public holidays, time between contracts and you should probably assume 200 paid days per year. That's 120k pounds/year or $150k/year. Not great.

Not sure what contracting rates are like now. It's been awhile. When I was doing it (more than 10 years ago), banking contract was often north of 500/day.

Thing is, those contracting in banking jobs can be hard to get. Typically you need experience in banking. If demand exceeds supply (as it did in the late 90s) then that's not a problem. When supply is relatively high (as it was in the early 2000s) then that's a huge barrier to entry.

If you're locked out of that field your rates are typically much lower (at the time more like ~300-350 a day).

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Re:Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds by vidarh on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @11:09AM (#12735184)

My last non-banking contract rate was 750/day in London. It depends a lot based on whether or not you have experience from any "hot" niches, and also depends greatly on whether or not you develop relationships direct with clients or go via an agency.

E.g. direct with clients it's perfectly possible to get contracts at 1k/day+ in London for relatively normal development jobs outside of banking once you have relationships with the right companies and you approach them as a consultancy rather than presenting yourself as an individual developer.

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