Why Silicon Valley Income Inequality Is Just a Preview of What’s to Come for the Rest of the U.S.
Sometimes what happens in one startup hub also happens in every other startup hub
By John Boitnott
Silicon Valley companies continue to pump out disruptive technology that’s fueling regional and national economic growth. But according to a new report, they’re also producing income inequality.
A team of researchers at the Everett Program at UC Santa Cruz studied federal and regional income statistics and found that in Silicon Valley, wages are sliding backwards rather than following the rise in the cost of living.
The just-released report showed that wages for 90 percent of Silicon Valley workers (all levels of workers except for the top 10 percent) are lower now than they were 20 years ago, after adjusting for inflation. That’s in stark contrast to the 74 percent increase in overall per capita economic output in the Valley from 2001 to 2017.
Middle-income workers — those in the 50th and 60th percentiles — were hit hardest. Their wages were up to 14 percent lower in 2017 than 1997. Workers performing duties that take higher levels of skill didn’t see as much of a drop in most cases. The top 10 percent of earners actually saw…
