This Associated Press story this morning really surprised me. Doesn't this contradict everything you've told us about your area?
Knowing the way from San Jose
By Associated Press, 07/22/99
PALO ALTO, Calif. - The Silicon Valley could lose its position as the heart of the Internet industry as competing regions from Seattle's ''Silicon Forest'' to New York's ''Silicon Alley'' tout tax incentives and their own well-educated work force to recruit companies away, a regional economic group warned yesterday.
A report by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network shows the key factor Internet executives use for choosing a location is access to a talented pool of employees. And while the Silicon Valley is home to almost 500,000 well educated and motivated high tech workers, it is also suffering a major work force shortage - lacking about 160,000 workers this year, Joint Venture said.
Other regions, like Austin's ''Silicon Hills,'' offer a more abundant work force with lower salary expectations, as well as a lower cost of living, less traffic and congestion, and supportive local governments, said the group, whose focus is to maintain the region's economic vitality.
Last month, San Jose-based Adobe Systems Inc., a computer graphics company, cut 350 jobs in San Jose and Scotland, but announced plans to expand in Seattle.
Hank Skorny, senior director of Adobe Internet Products, said they made the move ''to draw from the extensive pool of Internet talent in the Pacific Northwest corridor.''
And it was Texas, not California, that led high-tech employment growth between 1990 and 1996, according to a recent study by the American Electronics Association.
The state added 70,000 jobs during that period, many of them in Austin, which has emerged as a hotbed for high-tech start-ups due in part to the tremendous success of Dell Computer. In addition, Austin offers Internet companies reduced utility rates, a ''fast track'' permit and inspection process, and publicly funded research parks.
Other city agencies offer perks to the high-tech industry, including the Boston Office of Business Development.
This story ran on page C14 of the Boston Globe on 07/22/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.
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