Silicon Valley Wages Are Shrinking for All Except the Top 90th Percentile

According to a study by UC Santa Cruz's Everett Program for Technology and Social Change, wages for 9 out of 10 Silicon Valley workers have decreased over the last 20 years as the inflation-adjusted numbers show a 12% to 14% decline. In contrast, wages for the top 10% of earners at corporations have increased by 0.7%. The underlying story is that Silicon Valley has been ground zero for "one of the nation's strongest economic booms and historically low unemployment rate that outpaces the national average." Over the past 17 years, the GDP per person in Silicon Valley, or "amount of money generated per Silicon Valley resident," has increased 74% which is 5 times the national average. So where is the money going?

Investors and owners have increased the amount of profits taken from businesses to 40% in 2016 compared to 36% in 2001. This means that $9.6 billion or $8,480 per worker is now going to the select few instead of the majority of employees. These large scale changes in the economic stability of Silicon Valley has driven low and middle income workers out of homes, while also creating more low wage jobs. Workers toiling away at jobs such as teacher, cook, security, and firefighter will no longer be able to pay the bills to live in the area. The employees of these thankless public service jobs and other low wage jobs may have to move to other communities in the future as investors, the top employees, and owners take a larger cut of profits.