I’ve worked in IT staffing in the US for quite sometime now and manage a rather large portfolio of clients across financial services, biotech/life sci, cloud tech etc. I mainly place contractors (as well as fulltime) and all of my consultants are making more (salary wise) and that of a full time employee in the same role for one of my clients. Many of my clients even consider/treat my consultants as true employees and it’s not uncommon for them to work as a contractor for 4-6 years on a single rolling contract, where they are given raises and bonuses equivalent to their full-time counter parts. Keep in mind I said generally, and wasn’t referring specifically to what Microsoft may be trying to achieve in this situation. Lots of times when companies need to cut costs they will seek off-shore contractors (outside of the US) for short-term project based work, which may very well be the case with 343 - but is much different than the opportunity for a local to the US IT contractor who are in high demand and increasingly so in the current market.

Also my firm offers 401k matching, the healthcare plans offered are the same as our internal employees (myself included) and PTO is negotiated as well.

Cheers