The Elance Work Index, which ranks the hottest 100 skills in today’s online labor market, today revealed that for the third month in a row PHP (Personal Home Page Tools) captures the number one spot on the Index, placing PHP-skilled professionals as the most sought after independent workers online today.

Elance is also expanding its skill testing platform to augment Elance’s existing 250 tests with new “Code Tests” that give technical experts in top programming languages like PHP a way to demonstrate their expertise in writing and debugging actual computer code. To launch the new PHP Code Test, Elance is sponsoring a 14 day “code-off” in PHP for its pool of skilled PHP providers-- offering $250 and a full-year premium membership to each of the coders who score in the Top 10 for PHP programming. The PHP “code-off” begins now and ends at Noon PST on November 30, 2009.

Despite the difficult economic environment, year over year hiring on Elance is up 40% in October and demand for online contractors in areas such as IT, marketing and administrative continues to grow as evidenced by the over 300,000 jobs posted on the site in the last 12 months.

The November Elance Work Index highlights several emerging trends:

• Language Translation – For the first time, specific language translation skills have appeared in the Top 100 with Spanish Translation at #76, French Translation at #82 and German Translation at #87. Italian, Swedish and others are also knocking on the door to enter the Index. If all jobs requiring Translation skills were combined, Translation would appear in the Top 10 list for the first time.
• Illustration – As designs and stock photos become more ubiquitous, companies appear to be increasingly in the market for distinct imagery. We noticed that Custom Illustration popped 27 spots to #18, while Cartoon vaulted 44 spots to #40. Graphic Design clung to its Top 10 placement and Animation moved up 12 places to #37. All and all, great news for those with the right skills.
• Android – It appears that the marketing push by Google and their carrier partners is getting some traction, as Android appeared on this month’s Index almost out of nowhere, entering the list at #75, up a whopping 167 spots from last month. Mobile development is strong all around with iPhone holding steady at #32.

Derived from data from more than 100,000 jobs posted on Elance in recent months, the “Elance Work Index” is the Web’s leading indicator on contract hiring trends. To view prior Elance Work Index data, visit the Elance Blog.

About Elance

Elance, where companies hire and manage independent workers and teams online, is transforming the way businesses get work done.

On Elance, companies gain instant access to 100,000 rated and tested professionals who offer technical, marketing and business expertise. With more than $220m in Elance earnings to date, independent professionals use Elance to meet clients and get paid for delivering great results.

The company is privately held and headquartered in Mountain View, California. For more information, visit Elance at http://www.elance.com.