Silicon Valley job growth sizzles in 2011, but new report also issues warnings

Job growth in Silicon Valley accelerated sharply last year, but the growth has primarily benefitted people in highly skilled technology sectors rather than those in unskilled industries.

Total jobs increased 3.8 percent in Silicon Valley in 2011, a much faster rate of growth than 2010, when the region's job base increased by 0.8 percent. The 2012 Silicon Valley Index report was issued by two nonprofit organizations, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network and Silicon Valley Community Foundation. 43 percent of Silicon Valley households are in upper income brackets, earning $100,000 or more; 37 percent are at middle income levels, with household incomes of $35,000 to $100,000; and 20 percent are in the lower-income strata, with household incomes below $35,000. "The gap between those succeeding and those struggling grows wider and wider," said Russell Hancock, president of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley, a group with members from business, government, labor and academia. "It's as if we're becoming two valleys." It's not enough for a region to generate a relatively narrow array of jobs, even if those jobs are in the nation's hottest industries, said Emmett Carson, president of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a regional center for philanthropy. "A healthy economy requires jobs at all levels," Carson said. "You need people to work at the hospital, you need teachers and bus drivers, you need plumbers and electricians. A healthy economy requires an ecosystem of all kinds of jobs."