Wouter van Ooijen wrote:

>> From some of Wouter's earlier comments, though, it sounds like the
>> Netherlands isn't all that different.
> 
> Much worse! The rules are unclear, changing each year, and there are
> different rules and/or interpretations to decide wehther you are to be
> considered and employee for
> - income taxes
> - public insurance tax
> - being insured for various risks
> etc

That's probably because in Europe, employees have more legal benefits.
However, I know many software "consultants" in the USA that are nothing
more than temporary employees, measured by the IRS standards. This possibly
may have changed recently a bit, with the wave of cheap outsourcing to
India and other places, but there still are many. This is probably more
prevalent in the software industry than in others. Not sure why that is --
maybe worse planning?

Gerhard
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