Silicon Valley has a significantly higher number of foreign-born employees with nearly three fourth of the workers in the field of computer and mathematics being non-United States of America citizens, a new report has said. Thirty-seven per cent of tech hub’s population are non-American citizens who entered the country to fill a specific job in the tech industry, compare that to California’s 27 per cent of the population that is from another country and a 13 per cent national average, according to the annual report of the Joint Venture Silicon Valley.
This population share increases to 50 per cent for the employed, core working age population (ages 25-44), and even higher for certain occupational groups. Nearly three-quarters (74 per cent)
of Silicon Valley-employed computer and mathematical workers ages 25 to 44 in 2014 were foreign-born, the report said.
According to the report, sustained growth of the Silicon Valley economy is swelling to new levels that have Bay Area housing, transit and highways bursting at the seams and hard pressed to accommodate the wave of prosperity. “It’s extraordinary, really, and a thing to celebrate,” said Russell Hancock, CEO of Joint Venture.
“This growth just keeps accelerating. We are now adding jobs at a rate we haven’t seen in 15 years, and that’s powering everything else. But with growth comes challenges and now we have to mobilise like never before,” he said.
Meanwhile, a day after announcing a $400-million investment in technology hub Bengaluru, global
software major Oracle on Saturday said that it would be hosting a global conference in the country’s financial capital in April.
“In April, we will have the Oracle Cloud World right here in Mumbai where we can bring technology players and the brightest thinkers together,” its global Chief Executive Safra Catz said at a special event to launch the Make in India Week here.
Impressed by the opportunities presented by India, she said this is the “greatest possible time” to be present in the country, which has the highest percentage of youth under 35 in the world. Additionally, high-decibel campaigns such as Digital India and Start-up India only make it “more compelling” for a technology company, she added.
“We have the technology to allow India to leapfrog ahead to go where others have not been yet,” Catz said. The announcement to hold the Oracle Cloud World in the megapolis comes after Catz announced an investment of $400 million to set up a campus in Bengaluru on Friday.
Catz on Saturday said that the company would also be starting a social sector initiative to train 5 lakh people with additional education with a special focus on young women and also create nine incubation centres for start-ups.