Yesterday, the Joint Venture and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation released their annual Silicon Valley Index, a nationally recognized report that analyzes the state of Valley’s economy, people, environment and governance using economic and demographic trends, and other indicators.
This 2008 Silicon Valley Index revealed many positive economic trends, including the addition of 28,000 jobs (2006 Q1 v. 2007 Q1), rising median household income (up 2%), increased per-employee productivity, an 11% increase in VC investment and growth in the number high-wage jobs.
The report’s most interesting finding is that the number of mid-wage jobs in Silicon Valley has been shrinking in recent years from 603,350 in 2002 to 541,300 in 2006 (a loss of 62,050 jobs over a 4-year period). In 2002, mid-wage jobs comprised 52% of total jobs and 46% by 2006. Mid-wage jobs are jobs that pay between $30,000 and $80,000. Silicon Valley’s mid-wage jobs are distributed across 523 occupations which include plumbers and pipefitters, medical assistants, office clerks and secretaries, electrical and electronic technicians and semiconductor processors. 
Of course, not all mid-wage jobs have disappeared or declined; some, like electricians, medical assistants, plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters, biological technicians and computer support specialists, actually defied the general trend and grew (due to their connection to growing industry sectors–construction, health and IT).
Surprisingly, the percentage of higher-wage jobs stagnated at 27%. One might expect that, given the growth of tech companies like Apple and Google, prolific VC investments in startups and growth in the technology sector in general, there would be a marked increase in higher-wage jobs in Silicon Valley. Not so.
Instead, lower-wage jobs (>$30,000) grew as a percentage of total jobs–from 22% to 27%. Undesirability aside, low-wage jobs present a particular challenge in Silicon Valley where the cost of living is 47% higher than that of the U.S. as a whole.
The Silicon Valley Foundation will present the Silicon Valley Index findings to the public at its annual “town hall meeting”. The State of the Valley Conference will be held on February 22, 2008 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, CA.
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