Web developers are being paid at levels not seen since the dotcom boom, thanks to the rapid rise in social networking sites such as Facebook a report today shows.

|QUOTE|Website builders and online software experts saw their pay climb dramatically during the rapid internet expansion of the 90s but then slump when the dotcom bubble burst.

Now web developers are hot property again.

Pay for web developers has jumped 26% over the past 12 months, and they are among the most sought after IT professionals in the UK. The average hourly rate for web developers is £29, up from £23 this time last year, according to research by the Association of Technology Staffing Companies (Atsco), the trade group for the technology staffing industry.

The Atsco report cites a spate of recent high profile internet buyouts, such as Google's $1.65bn acquisition of video sharing site YouTube, as cementing pay rises.

"The proliferation of social networking sites, and the increasing amount of time people are spending online, has led to a boom in demand for online content from advertisers looking to target these audiences," said Atscp head Ann Swain.

"Websites now offer a potentially much more sophisticated user experience than the plain text sites around in the 90s.

"It was relatively easy to publish a decent website back then, but now it's difficult without expert programming skills."

With fewer IT graduates acquiring web skills after the dotcom crash, there is an under-supply of web developers, which is also putting upward pressure on pay, the report says.

"Companies are being forced to offer large incentives to get people on board because, with so few skilled IT graduates entering the marketplace, poaching from rivals is becoming a necessity," Ms Swain said.

Much of the demand is coming from retailers as they upgrade their online sales systems.

IT spending by UK retailers is outpacing IT investment by all other sectors of the economy, with companies such as Marks & Spencer, House of Fraser and Debenhams investing heavily in improved e-commerce platforms during the past 12 months, the report said.

There was also high demand for skills to work on systems such as email and contacts management.