Silicon Valley
still IT epicenter
Area has capitalized on manufacturing, services shift to remain No. 1 spot for IT jobs
By Deborah Perelman
If you want to know how silicon valley manages Keeping a balance
to remain, after 16 years, the center of U.S. IT Silicon Valley has maintained an even mix of IT manufacturing and
services jobs.
innovation and production, Roger Kay will take 90 IT manufacturing IT services
you first to Morocco.
“Many years ago, when I was traveling, I went to the 75
central market in Marrakech looking for a drum,” Kay, 60
president of analyst company Endpoint Technologies
Percentage
Associates, told e W 45 eek. “At the edge of the market,
there were some people selling a drum or two, but [the 30
drums] weren’t that great, and the tables were filled
with many other items. If you went further into the 15
center of the souk, you could find 12 master drum 0
makers selling in the same area, and there you had
the best drums for great prices.”
1995 2000 2006 1995 2000 2006
Bay area United States
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
What it comes down to, the focus of an Economic
Kay said, is the economics Letter released Aug. 3 by
of a central marketplace. the Federal Reserve Bank these booms and busts, were surprised when Vir-
“If you want the best price of San Francisco, which although market shares ginia surpassed Colorado
and the best quality, you looked at the evolution of of other top IT centers as a technology employ-have to go where everyone IT employment trends and have shifted. While Los ment hot spot,” Matthew
is doing the same thing.” how they have affected the Angeles has maintained Kazmierczak, an analyst
This, in short, is why region’s long dominance its second-place ranking, at the Washington-based
Kay believes that even in this area. its share of the nation’s IT American Electronics
in an age when work is Reviewing regional employment has fallen. Association, told eWeek.
increasingly decentral- shares of the nation’s IT This has been the case in Kazmierczak was refer-ized using wireless and employment from 1990 the Boston area as well, ring to the AEA’s annual
remote communication to 2006 over five metro- which has seen some of CyberStates report, from
technology, the Silicon Val- politan regions, the report its IT employment base which the Federal Reserve
ley region of California is covered developments in erode. paper drew much of its
still where the technology the late ’90s that led to the Most recently, the Bos- research. “The D.C. area
magic happens. dot-com boom, the reces- ton area ceded its third- used to be just infra-
It is also why, despite sion in 2001 and 2002, placerankingtothe Wash- structure for the govern-some ebb and flow in and a retrenchment and ington, D.C., area, which ment, but it has grown up
its IT job market share subsequent recovery in IT has grown rapidly from beyond that to software as
over the last 16 years, the investment. its government contract- services,” he said.
Bay area has remained The Bay area remained ing roots. Seattle remained in fifth
the national leader in IT the leader among metro- “In our own research place, but itsshareshowed
employment. This was politan areas throughout as well, a lot of people [CONTINUED ON PAGE 26]
