An interesting study was published this month on the workforce implications of the renewed growth of Silicon Valley’s cluster of IT industries, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) cluster; networks, computers, chips, telecom, software, hosting, social media, etc.
For a copy of “Silicon Valley in Transition” go to http://connect.one-stop.org/lmi/TechStudyFullReport_03.pdf
Here are the highlights:
• The ICT sector added 13,000 jobs in greater Silicon Valley (now defined to include San Mateo, San Francisco and southern Alameda counties) since 2009.
• The ICT sector is conservatively estimated to grow 15% over the next two years, adding around 20,000 new jobs.
• Companies are already finding it hard to recruit in certain engineering fields.
• Average salaries in the ICT cluster are growing again and now exceed $150,000/year.• Silicon Valley is a magnet for start-ups and venture capital because of its deep pool of highly skilled talent. This talent in Silicon Valley is seen as more flexible and willing to adopt and learn the new technologies that cannibalize the old. Without “positive destruction” Silicon Valley would not be what it is today.
• Even as other tech centers have proliferated, Silicon Valley share of total US venture capital investment has steadily grown, now exceeding 40% of the nation’s total VC funding. The Valley’s “infrastructure for innovation” attracts companies such as Facebook to relocate here and companies such as Groupon and Wal-Mart Online to move engineering here.
• The reviving IPO market (Pandora, LinkedIn, and soon Twitter and Zinga will go public), is letting the local VC players cash-in, so Silicon Valley’s share of the VC pie is likely to grow further.
