> From my experience (in The Netherlands) many jobs will give you just a very small raise every year and the only way to make big financial gains is to job hop every now and then.

That's a paradox I've encountered. Companies don't reward loyalty of their current employees, yet they prefer CVs signalling loyalty to the employer.

Contracting is underdog relation for the freelancer in many industries in Europe, some companies use it as vestibule to the full time employment contract.