At the same time the number of contract jobs advertised on the site has doubled over the past year to approximately 4,600, Swart said.

The increase may be a sign that , contract work may be countercyclical in a troubled economy. "We're seeing companies that are trying to do more with less," said Swart. There are now 157,000 providers, or work seekers, on the site. About a third of those

At the same time, the said that overall in November by almost 34,000 jobs compared to October. Overall IT employment for the month stood at about 3.87 million, the Alexandrian, Va.-based group said last week.

Employers that use Menlo Park, Calif.-based oDesk typically advertise for help on a specific project. Most jobs on this site are IT-related, including Web, and software development, network administration. There are also projects seeking audio and video, graphic arts, and writing skills.

The oDesk workers are located around the world, and its hourly rates reflect the economic differences among countries. For example, average hourly rates for all jobs average US$12.52 in India, $6.33 in the Philippines, $16.86 in Russia, and $18.32 in the United States.