Is the San Jose area (Silicon Valley) recession proof? (homes, tech job)

[drceresa]

I take it your not a recent graduate with an Economics background... We have been taking the brunt of most downturns for as long as i can remember... Tech, MAnufacturing, Defennse Cuts ( ok not so much lately but we have been hit in the past)

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by Kevdawgg

With all those high tech companies (Apple, HP, Intel) does this make Silicon Valley being that lots of residents work for those companies?

The high tech industry has its own up-and-down cycles. It just happens that this "up cycle" coincides with the rest of the economy's "down" cycle. So for the past couple years, the computer/IT sector in Silicon Valley has been recession proof, but that doesn't mean it's always recession proof.

Also high tech is the only thing in the Valley that is currently recession proof. All other industries and sectors are down along with the rest of the economy.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by 80skeys

All other industries and sectors are down along with the rest of the economy.

Except nonprofits.

[yeahthatguy]

The Seven Forces Disrupting Venture Capital | TechCrunch
Meh, nothing stays the same forever. There is no reason for 'funding' to be stuck to a specific region geography in 2012 .. and thus, technology once again disrupts old relic paradigms...

VC firms are spreading around the U.S .. The whole model is being disrupted.. and Discovery of great talent is pushing to the web and being democratized by crowd funding... http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-57424145-501465/kickstarter-smartphone-watch-project-tops-$7-million-in-weeks/

If you have talent and capability, you don't need to be here to be discovered.. Social Media is on its last leg of idiocy IMO .. and is only a matter of time because it collapses... Companies like : groupon, zynga, pandora (recent ipos) are all down some 50-60% .. Facebook's idiotic acquisition of Instagram shows we are repeating bubble's of times past and its IPO will market the top.

Old Guard companies like Intel, Cisco, AMD, HP have outsourced just about everything that's not nailed down and are building huge headquarters overseas.. The valley isn't recession proof .. it's just in an up cycle currently .. which is just about tapering off. See the history of when tech is in decline

[rimmerama]

Originally Posted by Kevdawgg

With all those high tech companies (Apple, HP, Intel) does this make Silicon Valley being that lots of residents work for those companies?

Judging by the traffic now, and how the traffic used to be during the bubble, I'd say we never got back to that level of prosperity.

But, unemployment rate for San Jose is 9.8%, for the U.S it is 8.2 - hard to say we're recession proof when we're doing worse than the national average.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by rimmerama

But, unemployment rate for San Jose is 9.8%, for the U.S it is 8.2 - hard to say we're recession proof when we're doing worse than the national average.

I think the OP was referring to the high-tech industry specifically.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

Except nonprofits.

Those are down, too. When people's incomes are down, they give less. When investment gains dry up, foundations have less to spend.

[rimmerama]

Originally Posted by 80skeys

I think the OP was referring to the high-tech industry specifically.

I think his belief was that the tech companies were not affected by the recession, and therefore the entire region was not, because the secondary economies would still have all those employed techies buying cars, remodeling kitchens, and the like.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

Those are down, too. When people's incomes are down, they give less. When investment gains dry up, foundations have less to spend.

When incomes are down, we (nonprofits) get more people needing help, and thus we're expanding to meet the increasing demand. Finding jobs for people ain't no picnic in this economy, even though people seem to think everybody that lives here is living high on the hog with a six figure-paying tech job. Not the case at all. We have a lot of extra work to do to raise funds these days.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by rimmerama

I think his belief was that the tech companies were not affected by the recession, and therefore the entire region was not, because the secondary economies would still have all those employed techies buying cars, remodeling kitchens, and the like.

Ah I see.

It doesn't seem to be the case. We have friends in different industries and jos here and all of them (except the high tech people) say that it's a really tough job market.