Silicon Valley celebrates a "0.1 percent" job growth. Wow. Fucking WOW.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Posted on Sat, Aug. 20, 2005

Valley payrolls expanding

JULY EMPLOYMENT TOPS YEAR-AGO FIGURE FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2000

By Nicole C. Wong

Mercury News

Silicon Valley employment expanded in July, the first month since the dot-com bust that more people were earning paychecks than a year earlier.

According to a state report released Friday, Santa Clara and San Benito county employers tallied 871,300 positions on their payrolls last month -- 600 more jobs than in July 2004. It represented a barely there increase of 0.1 percent.

``It's just crossed that number by a hair's breadth, but you could say it's a landmark in that it's positive for the first time,'' said Steven Cochrane, senior economist at Economy.com.

He cautioned it's still too early to celebrate because the job growth could be wiped out by a later revision or simply not last. ``There's no guarantee it's going to be positive next month because the numbers are volatile.'' Economists like to see employment statistics stay consistent for at least three months. And there are plenty of reasons to worry that the valley's modest improvement won't last through the fall.

[TwilightZone]

1. Hey, in Silicon Valley, that's a big deal.

The economy there has been in major decline since the start of the dot.com crash, and layoffs and company closures have become a way of life.

For them to actually increase employment really is big news.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

3. It's news, but I live here...

...and the cost of living keeps rising a hell of a lot higher than "0.1 percent."

I posted a story on DU earlier in the week about the WalMart in Oakland advertising 400 jobs. 11,000 people applied and 300 of the jobs were filled in one hour.

So it's "news," but I wonder where these miracle jobs are. I also wasn't impressed AT ALL with THIS passage:

"The red-hot housing market may finally cool. If home sales and construction slow, valley employment stands to lose some of the momentum it has gained, particularly in the past two months."

House-flippers and former dot-com scumbag "speculators" have keep the cost of living at the ridiculous level in this valley while all of the wonderful WalMart positions were being filled.

[TwilightZone]

5. Housing prices there are insane.

I've been trying to badger my SO into moving to California for about 15 years now, and I cannot believe how completely nuts the housing market has gotten just in the past few years.

We were looking into the San Diego area, but have spent a lot of time in the Bay area, as well. When smallish condos START at $850k, something is seriously wrong!

What I don't understand is how the average person can afford to live there. No clue how those 300 new Wal-Mart employees, for example, can do it.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

7. Here's the simple formula:

WalMart hourly salary without benefits ($10.80) + Median Home Price in Santa Clara County ($700,000) = No Home For Most People.

There was another story in the Mercury (which I posted earlier in the week) about a married couple that was "thrilled" to have just purchased a 2-bedroom 2-bath condo in San Jose for $435,000.

The purchase required FIVE loans, and their mortgage payment equals FORTY FIVE PERCENT of their COMBINED monthly income.

This valley is INSANE.

I won't be wetting myself with joy over a "0.1" increase in jobs.

[DBoon]

2. Did they just open a Walmart there or something?

I doubt that Bush would lift a finger for high-skilled jobs in a blue state.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

4. See my post above.

400 shiny new WalMart jobs in Oakland, 11,000 applicants.

Average WalMart pay in Silicon Valley is $10.80 / hr. with no benefits.

Happy days are here again.

:sarcasm:

[LibDemAlways]

6. And what's the average cost of a house?

When I was considering a move there several years ago, fixers in San Jose were going for over 600K. Can only imagine what it's like now.

Didn't move at the time because the salary being offered was too low for the cost of housing. Pointed this out to the company, but they wouldn't up the offer. Their loss.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

9. Santa Clara County median home price right now is $700,000.

And believe me, when you are standing in front of a $700K Santa Clara County home, you are NOT standing in front of a "mansion."

The people who USED to buy homes are buying CONDOS, which often are recently-converted apartment buildings with paper-thin walls and carports instead of garages.

[DBoon]

8. Most silicon valley engineers would never get hired at Walmart

They'd never make it through the pre-employment "attitude screening".

Too bright and too independent.

The wrong people for Bush's America