Some Silicon Valley Workers Taking Less Money For More Stability
SAN JOSE (KCBS) – It could be a sign of the times in Silicon Valley: more tech workers are actually lowering their expectations when it comes to salaries.
According to a survey from the job website Woo cited by the San Jose Mercury News and Mashable, salaries being asked for by tech workers have dropped by almost 13 percent since the end of last year, from $142,000 to just over $124,000.
Woo attributed the drop to the economic uncertainty in Silicon Valley, with funding for tech startups drying up along with IPO activity. The survey showed 83 percent of applicants sought stable jobs in big companies, versus 77 percent looking for jobs at startups.
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"And it's expensive to live here, for people to have families and things like that. It's a big risk to go into that kind of company sometimes," Craig Hendrix, a sales manager at a hardware company in Santa Clara, told KCBS.
Hendrix said he is seeing a lot of movement among tech workers, but he said it's hard to know why.
The survey also found an increase in the number of tech workers who want to move out of the Bay Area, from 22 percent to nearly 30 percent.
John Dulchinos, a vice president with Jabil manufacturing in San Jose, said he finds that hard to believe.
"Employees love to come to the Bay Area. It's getting them to a reasonable standard of living, it's always a challenge," Dulchinos said.
The survey blamed quality of life issues, namely high housing prices and traffic congestion.