The Rise of the 1099 Economy: More Americans Are Becoming Their Own Bosses

[jacquesm]

More people starting out for themselves can have several causes, and one of those strongly correlates with unemployment. Not everybody that starts for themselves does so because they think that 'working for the man' is no longer for them, as often as not it is that the man has decided that he has surplus employees and kicks them to the curb. That those people then need income and that many of them are then forced to start their own business or perish is a direct effect of this. If you throw that many people into the meatgrinder some of them will succeed but let's not pretend that those choices were made of free will.

[a3n]

1099 is not necessarily "your own boss." Much of the time it's just an employer refusing to bring on permanent employees, opting for contractors and no benefits, and minimal relationship and responsibility. Some 1099s are good, others are near last resort.

[jberryman]

Another similar facet is companies having the leverage to hire people as private contractors when they are in fact legally employees.

[curiously]

You nailed it. I started my own business because it was this or nothing at all. I got a job but it was just plain awful environment. There was absolutely nothing great about employed but when you become unemployed starting your own business is the only choice.

It's unfortunate that the employment market is filled with engineers who continually undercut each other because employers are looking to save as much as possible and have ample amount of desperate people readily available to replace whoever is burnt out.

Good luck to everyone in 2015. Hopefully this is the year where all the work I put in starting my own SaaS will pay off.

[happyscrappy]

This comment demonstrates one of the fundamental reasons economies in Europe are floundering. It is seen as reasonable that companies be forced to keep surplus employees. In France you don't hire someone as much as adopt them, you are now responsible for them. The most terrifying thing for a company in Europe is hiring.

[happyscrappy]

Being your own boss has huge advantages, tax and otherwise, at least in the US.

[jeffreyrogers]

Funny how we went from the 17th/18th century model of self employed craftsmen, to the 19th/20th century model of working for a large manufacturer, and now the trend appears to be back towards self employment.

Of course, as jacquesm noted in his comment, a lot of this is probably due to people being unable to find other, desirable work.

[happyscrappy]

While it is great if people started businesses when they can't find work this has not been my experience. The people that I see starting businesses are the most ambitious and are seeking more.

[mark_l_watson]

Except for working at WebMind and Google, I have been a 1099 consultant for about 16 years.

One thing I worry about is the USA government, that seems very keen on extracting taxes from non-rich people, will start plugging up some of the fair tax right offs that 1099 workers get.

The first part of this process, I think, has been the pressure on companies to make people work as W-2 workers. W-2 workers have fewer tax write offs.

[tdicola]

I'm new to doing 1099 work and am curious, are there any big tax write offs in particular to look out for?

[deskamess]

What are the disadvantages for companies to make people work as W-2? Is there more paperwork on their part?

[walshemj]

lets hope they don't start passing laws like IR35 (targeted at some but not all self employed contractors in the uk)

Of course self employed lawyers and accountants don't get caught in IR35

[xacaxulu]

It's almost as if there is some sort of huge incentive for organizations to not have full time employees or have to pay for their healthcare, vacation days, taxes etc.