Globalization is blamed for depleting Silicon Valley's middle class.The effects of a sub-prime mortgage crisis, financial market volatility and a shifting global economy are disproportionately affecting midwage technology workers in Silicon Valley.
In 2006, only 46 percent of the jobs in Silicon Valley were midwage, paying between $30,000 and $80,000 a year, down from 52 percent in 2002, according to the 2008 Index of Silicon Valley, sponsored by Joint Venture, a public-private partnership, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a nonprofit.
Meanwhile, the percentage of higher wage jobs remained relatively stable at 26 to 27 percent, while low-wage jobs grew from 22 to 27 percent in the same period.
"This is real. We don't know if it is a long-term trend yet, but there are a lot of reasons to believe it will be. Only time will tell," said Hancock.
However, the picture is more complicated than a depleted middle class. The region's 541,300 midwage jobs were distributed across 523 occupations in 2006, half of which lost and half of which gained jobs. The vanishing jobs had been among workers who had been in the lowest parts of the white-collar work force, including secretaries, clerks and customer service representatives. Meanwhile, blue-collar roles such as electricians and plumbers and white-collar jobs such as computer support technicians showed gains.
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