The trends marked in this month’s Elance Online Work Index state it plain and simple: Right now, businesses are in need of people who can code, people who can design, and people who can write.

The June edition of the Elance Online Work Index marks a new shift in which skills are the critical components when it comes to maintaining success in today’s business world. Here’s what the tens of thousands of skilled experts are doing when working online:

• Cracking The Code: With PHP (#1) holding the top spot for the third consecutive month followed closely by MySQL (#3), HTML (#4), and CSS (#5), the profound need for coding scribes continues to remain a steady constant. AJAX (#13), Javascript (#20) and XHTML (#29) all moved up this month while ActionScript (#72) made an impressive showing by leaping up 24 spots.
  
• Envisioning The Art: Design and multimedia skills maintain their presence on the Elance Online Work Index. Adobe Photoshop (#6) rose one spot while Flash (#9) ascended into the top 10 by moving up three positions. Graphic Design (#12), Logo Design (#14) round out the top 20, and Art Direction (#74) showed itself as one of the index’s biggest gainers in leaping 20 positions.
  
• Crafting The Content: The skill required to craft words meticulously together is riding high with the momentum of a freight train behind it. Article Writing (#2) dethroned MySQL to claim the second spot while Web Content (#7) and Content Writing (#10) both dashed into top 10 territory. Specialized writing skills are hot with Online Writing (#17), Creative Writing (#24), Business Writing (#32), Copywriting (#34), Academic Writing (#37), Sales Writing (#39), Ghostwriting (#42) occupying coveted spots in the top 50, while Technical Writing popped 32 spots to #65 on the list.
  

Other notable movers and shakers include:

• Drupal Dominates: Content management systems make a strong showing this month with WordPress (#8) cracking the top 10 and Joomla! (#18) in the top 20, but the biggest surprise is Drupal’s (#53) 22 position climb. Perhaps the White House’s use of the platform in its latest project, Recovery.org, has the CMS world buzzing.
  
• Email Handling: No one we know covets the time spent wading through email trying to find the important from the mundane. Companies have discovered the benefits of hiring experts to handle email, with Email Handling jumping 24 slots to #60 of skills in demand.
  

The demand for online work is growing across a variety of skill sets as businesses face tighter budgets and growing workloads. Marketing and IT departments are hiring online as an alternative to hiring full-time. In May, companies posted more than 25,000 new jobs on Elance, building on the 250,000 jobs and $100m worth of online work posted on Elance in the last 12 months.

Take a quick look at the latest index below and see where your collection of professional skills rank. Are you in high demand, or do you need to brush up and learn a few new skills? What trends do you see this month and for the future? Give us your commentary by dropping us a line in the comments below.

 

** Denotes new entrant to Top 100

 

* The Elance Online Work Index is calculated using data from more than 100,000 new jobs posted on Elance over recent months. The Elance Online Work Index is a leading market indicator with respect to business and hiring trends.