A new report released this week shows that despite strong growth, the tech economy has meant declining wages, increasing inequality, and a shift towards low-wage jobs. The study, Innovating Inequality, found that since 2001, Silicon Valley has led the nation in economic growth per person, yet nearly nine in ten jobs here pay lower wages today than they did 20 years ago, adjusted for inflation.
The data explains how Silicon Valley’s tech business models exacerbate income inequality while enriching corporate shareholders, executives, and Wall Street. The study, conducted by Chris Benner, a UC Santa Cruz Professor with the Everett Program, in partnership with Working Partnerships USA shows that:
- Over the past 20 years, residents of Silicon Valley have increased their per capita economic output by 74% — yet for nearly nine out of ten jobs, employers are paying lower real wages now than in 1997.
- The share of middle- and high-wage jobs declined, while the proportion of workers in low-wage jobs increased by 9 percentage points.
- Much of this increased concentration of wealth can be traced to aspects of the business models adopted by the tech industry, which give outsized rewards to a few at the price of increasing financial insecurity for the vast majority of wage earners.
Click here to watch a video on the report.
Click here to read the full report.
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