Online job site Elance recently released the results of its latest work index, showing that PHP coding skills continue to dominate demand in the freelance, work-for-hire market. Unfortunately, thanks to global crowd-sourcing, hourly rates for the skill are falling.

The Elance Work Index is based on the jobs or projects posted on the Elance website, and to some extent measures what skills businesses are actively seeking. In the November 2009 Index, PHP was the top category for the third straight month. The November Index was based on approximately 100,000 project postings. All told PHP coding has been the top category in the Elance Work Index seven times this year and was never below the number two spot in the index in 2009.

PHP Coding Important In Ecommerce

PHP, particularly as it is related to the Zend Framework, is very important in the ecommerce space since many of the leading ecommerce platforms, including popular open-source solutions like Magento Commerce and Zen Cart, rely on the language.

PHP is also the language behind the popular blogging platform WordPress, and a number of online merchants are now requesting that PHP developers blend WordPress with ecommerce platforms, or create carts for WordPress.

Unfortunately Pay Rates Are Not Great

With so much demand, there are certainly projects available for many PHP developers. Unfortunately, PHP has been adversely affected by the global crowd-sourcing, and the rates companies are willing to pay for PHP coding has dropped significantly in the past few years.

Low pay rates are particularly abundant on the Elance site, where, for example, some India-and-Pakistan-based coders are offering their services for $5 per hour.

PHP developers in the former Soviet Union often accept $15 per hour for their work. By comparison, coders in many Western countries charge $65-to-$80 per hour.