Be skeptical of "easy" 1099 gigs

I get calls from recruiters about various govenrment contracting gigs quite a bit.

When I'm not particularly interested in a role, I just tell the recruiter right away that I'm only interested in 1099 or sub-contracting.

Most companies are only looking for W2, but on occasion a recruiter will eagerly tell me that "yes we can do 1099. What's your rate?"

I then ask them what rate they're trying to stick to and then they tell me something absurdly low.

If it's a $100,000 salaried W2 role, they'll offer $60/hour or something around there.

Basically you'd be earning the same amount as a 1099 as you would as a W2, except now you take all the risk.

Of course they'd be happy to offer 1099 at those rates.

So I'd be skeptical of any company that is very eager to offer to 1099 arrangements. There should be a bit of pushback. That's one sign it's a legitimate opportunity.