I think this goes hand in hand with companies having a difficult time hiring good VFP developers. With a smaller pool available, the rate has to go up if companies expect to be able to attract them. If they're not willing (able) to do that, they may find it's cheaper to switch development platforms (although I think good developers are hard to find for any dev. platform, they may find "good enough" developers for the job at hand).

I know of instances in both the Philadelphia and Washington D.C. area where VFP contract rates are 30-35 dollars an hour. And these are for contracts that last anywhere from a few weeks to maybe 3-6 months. Now, if I had zero other choices, if I had to take that rate just to survive and pay the bills, I'd take it....but that's the only scenario in which I'd take it.

And some of these fall into the "small client" category that John Ryan has described. Sure, they're out there....but at the same time, they're quite diffuse. Sure, you get to stay with Fox, and sure, you might even be able to bring in other development tools....but is this a model to try to take advantage of?