The self-employed person has to match his own social security contributions -- i.e., a company-employed worker has half as much social security witheld as the self-employed. In essence, whatever hourly wage the company is paying that person is that dollar figure plus the amount of SS contributed.
Then there's sick time and vacation. Depending on the job, that $22 per hour figure may very well include paid sick days and paid holidays. The self-employed person doesn't get paid when he doesn't work.
THEN there's health insurance. The self-employed person has to pay an outrageous amount of money per month and, if I'm correct, in some states cannot pay for it with pre-tax dollars. He's still paying the same co-pay, but has to shell out considerably more for the privelege, where someone employed at a company gets a much better "deal" on insurance.
Maybe this stuff is factored into figuring the "real" wage being paid ... but I doubt it.
What I’m trying to say (and badly) is NOT that the poor self-employed person has it bad — but that the person who works for a big company at $22 an hour is getting paid probably $35 an hour in “real” dollars. Or look at it this way: if it was just you cut loose to earn your own hourly wage, you’d have to charge $35 an hour to come out on the same plateu (matched social security, paid time off, insurance and retirement benefits) as a company guy whose salary breaks down to $22 an hour.