That incentive always was there, but it was small. It isn't small any longer. The trajectory makes one wonder what this fee will be in another year or two. Clearly they won't be lowering it.
Upwork is not an independently sustainable company. Upwork shares are worth less than at their 2018 IPO. They've never really been profitable. They rarely have a positive free cash flow. They've increased outstanding share count 26%. The things they've done only reduced the value customers receive from them (like when they decided to charge extra money to view contractor reports.)
How did they never make any money? Companies spend billions of dollars a year on recruiting. This isn't a tiny market. Someone grossly mismanaged Upwork -- for their customers, for their contractors, and their shareholders.
See https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043210654-Mo...
If you want to convert sooner, it's a percentage of the income for that specific client/freelancer relationship, and not total work for the freelancer. So it is probably a more palatable amount, assuming the freelancer has multiple clients.
This sounds like something a pimp or a mob boss would say.
These seem like real concerns and failures of the market. I know Upwork has strong network effects, so this seems like a justified government intervention