2005 Silicon Valley & mixed estimates

The New York Times writes about a report "2005 Silicon Valley "

The report's authors cautioned against drawing conclusions that were too negative. If comparing present-day Silicon Valley to 2000, things look grim by nearly every measure, as the area has seen a steep decline in everything from jobs to venture capital to funding for the arts and municipal services.

But if the comparison year is 1998, just before the dot-com phenomenon spun out of control, "then we seem to have returned to similar levels of performance, and embarked on a new period of incremental growth," according to the report's authors. The study also found that 40 percent of the regional population is foreign-born, up from 32 percent in 2000.

"I'd say it's not bad news coming out of Silicon Valley, but we have our challenges," Mr. Hancock said. Primary among those concerns is what he called the "Manhattan effect."

"Our worry is that Silicon Valley becomes this world center for people working on innovative enterprises who can afford to live here, but at the same time people who want and need to be here find that ours has turned into an economy that's not robust in terms of the middle," he said. That day hasn't arrived yet, Mr. Hancock said, but the study found that housing is so expensive that "it's difficult to retain young talent, teachers and service professionals."