Originally Posted by mvc333

There is NO lack of jobs in the field of qualified web developers. It is a very in demand field and there are not enough qualified people atm. How do I know? I have my degree in software engineering :p If you mean someone who knows basic html+css yeah that is a lot of money. If you mean someone who understands how to integrate ajax and jquery, use php or asp.net configure proper databases with tuning and maintenance and stored procedures, transactional based systems, have a proper understanding of REST, XML, XSLT, JSON, Semantic Markup, etc whatever particulars the job requires..... then 48k is an absolute joke. For the US anyway. You may end up getting someone qualified that is not from the US for that money.