Saved by the Geeks...Again?

As our nation looks to create sustainable job growth much talk is given to the new and alternative energy fields as a job growth engine but little is seen as far as hard evidence. Contrast that with healthcare and technology sectors and you will see these two areas will be the engines that truly drive job and ultimately wage growth for the next decade. Tech has done it twice before with the age of computing and the age of the Internet. Yes the Internet bubble burst and shed jobs but that was more due to financial and venture firms overheating the market and spawning bad business models with cheap money. It will be Tech once again that creates stable job growth and possibly another boom for America. Yes it’s possible I’m biased as my background is technology ventures and I do sit on an advisory board for a tech venture firm but it’s that perspective that allows me to speak with a variety of technology firms… and growth is coming from what I hear lately.
The implications for CRE are material and worth evaluation. New technologies are being implemented to even further increase our national productivity every day. 3G and 4G wireless technologies will fuel the mobile sector to new growth. Government policies being drafted to offer Internet access to all citizens will power nationwide infrastructure improvements, spur on more entrepreneurship, and force the Internet technology and service providers to grow and retool their platforms. Increases in R & D budgets are starting to take place at our large corporations and technological enhancements are coming out now at record pace as evidenced by the rise in technology related patents being awarded at the U.S. PTO. Overall patents are down but tech-related (software, hardware, devices, services, and content) are all up.
Known as the hub of the Silicon Forest Seattle ranks 4th overall in tech employment nationwide and Tech is expected to be a sector that is in GROWTH mode even during this down cycle. This from the Milken Institute:
Top U.S. High-Tech Centers
Metro area Employment (in thousands) Share of North American wages (%)
San Jose, CA 244.0 5.7
Seattle, WA 226.3 3.2
Cambridge, MA 163.6 2.8
Washington, D.C. 275.7 4.2
Los Angeles 376.4 5.1

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