Ah that makes more sense and is considerably worse. No retirement match or work benefits like employee health insurance either. Doesn't really seem worth it but I guess most streamers are struggling through hoping someday they'll be making those insane top 25 twitch streamer salaries.
If you are a mid-sized streamer you can do alright with donations/patreon/merch/sponsors but its very hit-or-miss and its a lot of "hidden work"; 'heh, stupid fucking normies working thier 9-to-5. I only have to wake up and stream for 6 hours a day. I wake up a 10 and am done 4. Which is good because I need to take that sponsor call. And respond to these emails. And fill out the sponsor paperwork. And file the sponsor stream reimbursment. And respond on twitter to show community engagement. And....'.
And again, for some people, even if its the same or more work, being able to be at home is worth the trade offs.
Its the same sort of thing you saw back in the early aughts with people doing webcomics as a career. You had some people making stupid money, and lots of people making part-time money doing webcomics. You also have people outside the US where a part-time US income meant you could live like a NEET king. I heard tales of euros hiding their webcomic gainz behind a US LLC, but never got any confirmation on that or how prevalent that was. Anyway, this was well and good until the market contracted in 2008 and you had a bunch of of the mid-timers finding themselves ass in the breeze. If you were a creative type it was a little easier to parley your webcomic experience into a paying art/graphic design gig.
There was something similar with the Kindle Marketplace and the short erotic stories, but that didn't go on long enough for anyone to make any truly hilarious mistakes.
The people who are really going to potentially have a rough time are the ones who finished college and either went right into streaming or worked for a short period before going full influencer. You said, likely no retirement savings and this very eyebrow raising gap in work history.
OTOH, if you know what you're doing (and you haven't been busted grooming any of your underaged fans) you can turn your influencer status and industry connections (you made those, right?) into a full time gig.
