The middle class is shrinking in the USA. This isn’t a conspiracy theory. Statistics prove this as a sad fact. Silicon Valley, America’s tech hub, is no exception.
The Silicon Valley consists of San Francisco, Santa Clara and San Mateo ?counties. It’s home to Facebook, Google, Apple, Yahoo, and dozens of other tech corporations. During the Great Recession of the late 2000s, Silicon Valley was one of the few regions of America that remained profitable. Unfortunately, it came at an unfair costs. Today, these three counties have one of the biggest economic gaps in the country. In 1989, Silicon Valley’s top 1% owned 13.3% of county income. By 2013, Silicon Valley’s top 1% owned 28.3% of all county income. In 1989, the number of middle class households in Silicon Valley were 56%. By 2013, the number of middle class households in Silicon Valley was 45%. In San Francisco, the top 1% earns 43 times that of the 99%. Low income households are doing worse. While Silicon Valley’s one percent boomed in the 2010s, the low income worker’s situation was at stagnant as ever. And with rising housing expenses, and poor public transit in much of the area, it gets harder and harder for the low and middle class to improve their financial situation. The good news, and only good news, is Silicon Valley has enough to invest in affordable and reasonable housing, transportation and good jobs. But will they?
They need to. A thriving middle class and healthy working class are paramount for any town, county, state, region or nation to succeed. If this gap widens, the work pool will likely be forced out of Silicon Valley. If the super rich has everything and the 99% have nothing, that region is setting itself up for failure. Let’s not forget our history. Some Silicon Valley leaders agree. Budget Center executive Chris?Hoene says, “We don?t want to turn around 25 years now and wonder why Silicon Valley didn?t turn out to continue being the engine of growth it had been.? They have great potential and tools to turn this crises around. Will they?