Saturday Stats: San Jose has the Most Future-Ready Economy in the Nation

At the 2015 Strategic Innovation Summit held by Harvard University and Dell, San Jose was proclaimed as the most future-ready economy in the country. Their definition of a future-ready economy is one that has sustainable economic output and growth potential. There are three key attributes that the study looked for:

1.) Human capital, or people equipped with the right skills to drive meaningful social and economic change.
2.) Commerce from sustainable business opportunities to continue improving entire economies for year to come. This includes collaboration, such as the formation of public-private partnerships.
3.) Infrastructure prepared to support people, businesses, and technology needed to drive growth and change.

San Jose scored well above average when it comes to human capital, having strong salaries, educational achievements, and by far the highest number of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) occupations per capita. San Jose also nailed it on commerce, having a collaborative and innovation-driven economy. Where we lost some big points was with infrastructure, particularly traffic congestion and poor public transit. Despite that, we still took the top position in the study with San Francisco coming in second and Washington DC in 3rd place.

Source: Dell, SJ Economy Newsletter

Top 25 Future Ready Economies

1. San Jose, CA
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Washington, DC
4. Boston, MA
5. Austin, TX
6. Raleigh, NC
7. Seattle, WA
8. Denver, CO
9. Portland, OR
10. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
11. New York, NY
12. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
13. Houston, TX
14. Atlanta, GA
15. Charlotte, NC
16. San Diego, CA
17. Chicago, IL
18. Louisville, KY
19. Salt Lake City, UT
20. Des Moines, IA
21. Los Angeles, CA
22. Pittsburgh, PA
23. Kansas City, MO
24. Columbus, OH
25. Philadelphia, PA

Lufthansa is Coming to San Jose!

When it rains it pours! SJC has landed another major international flight, this time to Frankfurt, Germany. Lufthansa is the largest European Airline and Frankfurt is their largest hub. Not only will this give San Joseans easy access to Germany, but every major city in Europe. This is the third international route San Jose has landed in 2015!

Luftansa will fly five nonstops each week on an Airbus A340-300 carrying 298 seats. Flights to Frankfurt will leave San Jose on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturday, and Sundays. The flights depart at 3:20pm and arrive at 11:35am the next day. Tickets will start around $977 round-trip and flights start on 4/29/2016--beating British Airways to market by a week.

This will become San Jose's 6th international route (Guadalajara, Cabo San Lucas, Tokyo, Beijing, and London are the others). There are rumors that a nonstop flight to Seoul, Korea will be next. 

In 2016, San Jose will surpass Oakland International Airport in terms of international countries served and will have more international routes than at any other point in SJC's history.

Sources: SVBJ, The Merc

Saturday Stats: San Jose's Economic Growth is #1 in the Bay Area

Of all the cities in the country with more than 300,000 residents, San Jose came in 7th in terms of economic growth between 2008 and 2014. In the Bay Area, San Jose was king of the castle. Oakland came in 13th place and San Francisco was 15th.

Metrics included income growth, unemployment rate decrease, and housing prices. I should also note that this study was for individual cities and not metro areas, making the results even more impressive.

For mid-sized cities of 100,000-300,000 residents, Santa Clara, Fremont, and Sunnyvale make the top 10. For cities under 100,000 residents, Milpitas, Mountain View, and Redwood City were in the top 15.

Source: SVBJ

BAM Relocates to Downtown San Jose

Yet another tech company is going to call Downtown San Jose home! BAM Labs is a health monitoring company that captures sleep data for both healthcare providers and consumers. BAM is founded by two Apple alumni (one developed the PowerBook and the other wrote its specs).

The company has moved its headquarters from Campbell to the entire 12th floor 111 W Saint John Street (about 13,000 SQFT). Welcome to the neighborhood!

Source: Bisnow, Hillrise from the San Jose Development Forum

San Jose's Office of Economic Development Launches SJEconomy.com

San Jose boosters have gotten a new tool to promote business development in the area. San Jose's Office of Economic Development launched a new site last month with tons of great resources and statistics. It's very well designed, mobile-friendly, and is worth checking out right over here.

SAN JOSE'S OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT LAUNCHES NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT WEBSITE --SJECONOMY.COM

Dear Readers of SJ Economy News,

I hope you've noticed that we've stepped up our efforts over the last two years to produce fresh, useful communications materials that help you succeed in San Jose -- including this news brief, beautiful new online brochures, frequent news releases, and our active Twitter feed.

In this issue, I am very proud to announce our new website -- SJEconomy.com.  Through SJEconomy.com, you'll have easy access to information from your PC or mobile device.   The new site is organized by People, Places, Business, and How We Help in San Jose. It includes maps of growth areas, a real estate locator tool, compelling facts and statistics, CEO testimonials, and photos you can download and use.   There's  a special section serving Brokers and Developers. You can contact the Office of Economic Development and staff easily through the About page.

Please join me in thanking San Jose's amazing economic development team -- and especially the Project Lead Cara Douglas -- for creating this critical resource. I hope you enjoy previewing SJEconomy.com and use it as your "go to" San Jose business development site.

Please let me know what you think, and how we can improve further by contacting Cara Douglas, Senior Business Communications Manager.

Kim Walesh
Director of Economic Development
Deputy City Manager

Joint Venture 2015 Silicon Valley Index

Every year Join Venture puts out a Silicon Valley Index that discusses a variety of topics from the economy to governance and challenges that our region faces. There are always tons of interesting stats in these publications.

Lynn Peithman Stock from the SVBJ has a nice breakdown of how some Silicon Valley stats compare to San Francisco over the last year:

Silicon Valley new jobs: 57,591 (11k up from the previous year)
San Francisco new jobs: 18,499 (4k down from the previous year)

Silicon Valley new patents: 17,000
San Francisco new patents: 1,900

Silicon Valley IPOs: 23
San Francisco IPOs: 5

Silicon Valley startups: 8,600
San Francisco startups: 7,400

Click here to read the entire report (or scroll down for highlights). You can also watch the video briefing below.

Highlights of the 2015 Index include:

Jobs – The number of new jobs grew by 4.1 percent, bringing the region’s job total to nearly 1.5 million. Silicon Valley added 57,951 new jobs between Q2 2013 and Q2 2014; San Francisco added another 18,499 for a total of 76,450 in Silicon Valley and San Francisco.

Investment– Venture capital investments in Silicon Valley and San Francisco shot up, reaching $14.5 billion in the first three quarters of 2014 alone – more than in any other year since 2000. San Francisco’s share was $7.1 billion, a 68 percent spike over 2013. Cleantech venture capital investments increased dramatically as well in 2014, reaching an all-time high of nearly $3.3 billion.

IPOs/M&A – 23 of the 275 U.S. Initial Public Offerings in 2014 were by Silicon Valley companies, three more than the prior year. As of Q3 2014, Silicon Valley was on pace to reach 2013 merger and acquisition activity levels, while San Francisco exceeded the number of deals in 2013 in the first three quarters of 2014 alone. During that time period, there were 560 M&A deals involving Silicon Valley companies, and 403 involving San Francisco companies.

Innovation – The number of Silicon Valley patent registrations continued to rise, reaching 16,975 in 2013 (1,910 more than the previous year). The largest share (40 percent) of the patents was in Computers, Data Processing and Information Storage, with another 24 percent in Communications.

Population – The entire Silicon Valley region (including Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, Fremont, Union City, Newark and Scotts Valley) grew by nearly 42,000 people between January 2013 and January 2014. During that period of time, Santa Clara County was the fastest growing county in the state at 1.5 percent – nearly twice the growth rate of the state as a whole (0.9 percent) – and a few Silicon Valley cities (Campbell, Milpitas, Foster City and Morgan Hill) grew three to four times faster than the state.

Income – Average annual earnings (including wages and supplements) in Silicon Valley and San Francisco as of Q2 2014 were $116,033 and $104,881, respectively, compared to $96,663 in the nine-County Bay Area, $70,847 in California and $61,489 in the United States. Median household income in 2013 in Silicon Valley was $94,534 and $79,778 in San Francisco.

Housing – Home prices and rental rates continued to rise in 2014, with a median home sale price of $757,585 (7.5 percent higher than 2013 and more than $360,000 higher than the median price throughout the state) and an average rental rate of $2,333 per month (11 percent higher than 2013) in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

Commercial space – The amount of approved development hit skyscraper levels in FY 2013-14 to 12.9 million square feet – nearly twice the floor area of the Pentagon, the largest U.S. office building. This amount of net non-residential development is far more than any other year over the last decade, and is 2.6 million square feet more than the last peak in 2004.

Published annually since 1995, the Silicon Valley Index findings are reported in five major sections: People (talent flows and diversity); Economy (employment, innovation and entrepreneurship, commercial space, income); Society (preparing for economic success, early education, arts and culture, quality of health, safety); Place (environment, transportation, land use, housing); and Governance (city finances and civic engagement).

The 2015 Silicon Valley Index is accessible online at www.siliconvalleyindicators.organd may be downloaded from the Joint Venture website at www.jointventure.org.

About Joint Venture Silicon Valley

Established in 1993, Joint Venture provides analysis and action on issues affecting the Silicon Valley economy and quality of life. The organization brings together established and emerging leaders—from business, government, academia, labor and the broader community—to spotlight issues, launch projects and work toward innovative solutions. For more information, visit www.jointventure.org.

China's Hainan Airlines is Coming to SJC!!!

This has been a long time coming. San Jose International Airport has finally landed another key route! China's Hainan Airlines is going to launch nonstop flights to Beijing this summer. Hainan is one of China's premium airlines (perhaps the best), with an excellent reputation and a five-star ranking. They are very similar in terms of prestige to ANA, San Jose's other international airline servicing Asia. This will be the very first time San Jose has had a direct flight to China.

The only other airports in the US that are serviced by Hainan Airlines are Seattle, Chicago, and Boston. For the San Jose route, Hainan will be flying a fancy Boeing 787 Dreamliner with 5 flights per week.

These international routes offer a huge boost to the airport, the local economy, and our brand. Hopefully, the combination of ANA and Hainan will attract even more international carriers to the airport. I would love to see some direct flights to Europe, Australia, and South America at some point in my lifetime. Which international destination do you think we'll get next?

Source: SVBJ

Saturday Stats: San Jose Named Best City to Work In!

San Jose continues to get recognition for being a great city to work in. An analysis by Glassdoor ranks the San Jose metro as the #1 place in the country for employee satisfaction. Huge tech salaries and career opportunities were the key contributors to the ranking. This is also the second consecutive year where San Jose is placed at the top of the hill in this study.

San Francisco ranked #2, Washington DC was #3, and New York was miles away at #28. Make sure to watch the short video below put together by Glassdoor.

Sources: Glassdoor, SVBJ, Business Insider, Hat tip to Arturo Perez

 

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the #3 Most "Upward Mobile" City

Where are the best places to realize the American dream? Check out the list below. San Jose comes in as the 3rd most upwardly mobile region in the US. Absolute Upward Mobility tells us how children are able to stack up compared to their parents. Relative Mobility measures an employee's odds of moving up or down the income ladder. Note that while San Jose had the 3rd best Absolute Upward Mobility score, we were #1 in Relative Mobility.

San Francisco came in 5th place and New York rounded out the top 10.

Source: The Atlantic, Hat tip to Dan De La O.

Joint Venture Index of Silicon Valley 2014

The 2014 Silicon Valley Index brings with it some interesting statistics related to our region. Here are a few quick stats from this year's report:

• Silicon Valley has added 46,665 new jobs (22,842 jobs were added in San Francisco). 
• The region's total population grew by 1.31% (13,766 people) versus 0.88% average growth statewide.
• Silicon Valley has 46.5% of all IPOs, 46.9% of Patents, and 47.6% of Venture Capital, and 54.6% of Angel Investment in California.
• Consumption of electricity has declined for five years in a row (189 megawatts of solar capacity helps quite a bit here).
• 45% of households are making over $100,000 a year.
• 75% of commuters are solo drivers, not a dramatic difference from 78% in 2003.
• Caltrain ridership has increased 26.4% from 2010 to 2013.
• For the first time since 2008, Silicon Valley government achieved greater revenues than expenses.

Click here to read the entire report. You can also watch a video briefing below.

San Jose Makes Global Momentum Index!

Commercial real estate services company Jones Lang LaSalle has identified cities around the world that have the combination of strong socio-economic and commercial real estate momentum, as well as longer-term foundations for success. The company has created the "City Momentum Index" where San Jose ranks quite well and is sitting shoulder to shoulder with great international cities. At 9th place on the list, San Jose is nestled between Hong Kong (8th) and Singapore (10th). New York comes in at #6 while San Francisco commanded the top spot. LA is 15th on the list, Boston is 17th, and Seattle is 18th.

The factors in the index include economic output, population, Fortune 2000 HQs, foreign direct investment, commercial real estate construction/absorption/prices, higher education infrastructure, technology/venture capital, and innovation capability.

You never in a million years would have found San Jose on a list like this a couple of decades ago--we've really come a long way. Looking forward to seeing where all this momentum will take us.

You can access the full article over here. Hat tip to Todd Horvitz for sending this in.

Saturday Stats: San Jose #5 in Economic Strength Index

San Jose is the only Californian city to rank in the top 10 local economies list for the whole United States. This study looked at 102 major metros and is based on 18 different components (full details below). Texas continues to dominate with Austin, Dallas, and Houston in the top 5, but it is nice to see San Jose representing on the list.

Source: SVBJ

SOURCES

All raw data come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and are the latest available figures as of the second Monday of the current month.

TYPES OF CALCULATIONS

The formula for the On Numbers Economic Index has 18 components. They fall into four general categories:

• Five-year changes are calculated between the latest available data and the corresponding data for the same month (or quarter) five years ago.

• One-year changes are calculated between the latest available data and the corresponding data for the same month (or quarter) one year ago.

• Long-term trends are calculated over five one-year intervals: between the same month (or quarter) five years ago and four years ago, between the same month four years ago and three years ago, between the same month three years ago and two years ago, between the same month two years ago and one year ago, and between the same month one year ago and now. Those five percentages are then combined into a single score.

• Current rates are the latest rates available.

FORMULA COMPONENTS

These are the 18 components of the formula:

1. Five-year change in private-sector employment.

2. One-year change in private-sector employment.

3. Long-term trend in private-sector employment.

4. Five-year change in unemployment rates.

5. Current unemployment rate.

6. Long-term trend in unemployment rates.

7. Five-year change in weekly earnings per private-sector worker.

8. One-year change in weekly earnings per private-sector worker.

9. Long-term trend in weekly earnings per private-sector worker.

10. Five-year change in construction-sector employment.

11. One-year change in construction-sector employment.

12. Long-term trend in construction-sector employment.

13. Five-year change in retail-sector employment.

14. One-year change in retail-sector employment.

15. Long-term trend in retail-sector employment.

16. Five-year change in house values. (House values are updated quarterly. All other factors are updated monthly.)

17. One-year change in house values.

18. Long-term trend in house values.

SCORING

Markets are ranked from top to bottom in all 18 components. The top market in each component receives 100 points; the bottom markets receives zero. Others are evenly distributed in between. Second place, for example, is worth 99.01 points, third place is worth 98.02, and so on.

FORMULA WEIGHTING

These components count for 10 percent each of a market's final score: 2, 5, 8 and 17. (All numbers come from the components section above.)

These components count for 5 percent each: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14, 16 and 18.

These components count for 2.5 percent each: 10, 12, 13 and 15.

Final scores are expressed on a 100-point scale.

SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM SCORES

Separate short-term and long-term scores are also calculated for each market. Both are expressed on a 100-point scale.

The short-term score reflects recent movement in the local economy, while the long-term score takes a five-year perspective.

Short-term scores are a composite of all one-year changes and current rates: 2, 5, 8, 11, 14 and 17.

Long-term scores are a composite of all five-year changes and long-term trends: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16 and 18.

San Jose Ranks in World's Fastest Growing Economies

A report has ranked the 60 fastest growing city economies in the world. This includes all of the rapidly growing cities in China (which dominated the list with 34 cities), the Middle East, and Latin America. Only four cities in all of North America made the cut and San Jose was one of them at #46. In fact, only one other North American city surpassed San Jose, and that was Houston at 40th place.

Factors attributed to San Jose's ranking include increases in GDP per capita, employment, and population.

Source: SVBJ

Saturday Stats: South Bay Leads Nation in Job Growth

Wow, now here is some good news for you. During the 12 month period ending in October, our job market grew by 3.2% making it the national leader in job creation. That is nearly triple the nation's average and double the California average. San Francisco--our frienemies up north--only managed to swing 1.8% job growth. Los Angeles did even worse with 0.8%.

Even better, this article is bullish on the South Bay's ability to continue to add jobs and even thinks it will bring up surrounding job sectors across the entire Bay Area. Unlike the .com days, there are substantial companies hiring here that are adding real value and have rock-solid revenues (Google, Apple, eBay, etc.).

To read the full Merc article, click here.