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High-Technology Agglomeration and the Labor Market: The Case of Silicon Valley

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  • D P Angel

    (Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, 950 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01610, USA)

Abstract

In this paper the pattern of labor-market activity associated with major high-technology agglomerations within the USA are examined, drawing upon the results of a mailed questionnaire survey of firms in the semiconductor industry. The analysis is focused upon the cluster of specialized semiconductor firms in Silicon Valley, to determine the contribution of local labor-market processes to the growth and development of this high-technology production complex. Fluid employment relations and efficiencies in search and mobility within the local labor market provide Silicon Valley firms remarkable flexibility in meeting their labor demands and help to ensure a rapid circulation of knowledge and information within the production complex. The accelerated transfer of technological knowledge allows Silicon Valley firms to build cumulatively upon a common stock of technological successes and failures, contributing significantly to the innovative dynamism of the region.

Suggested Citation

  • D P Angel, 1991. "High-Technology Agglomeration and the Labor Market: The Case of Silicon Valley," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 23(10), pages 1501-1516, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:23:y:1991:i:10:p:1501-1516
    DOI: 10.1068/a231501
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Burak Beyhan, 2011. "Spatial Characteristics of Labor Mobility and Innovation inside an Industrial Cluster: Some Reflections from Siteler in Ankara," ERSA conference papers ersa10p421, European Regional Science Association.
    3. Paul Almeida & Bruce Kogut, 1999. "Localization of Knowledge and the Mobility of Engineers in Regional Networks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(7), pages 905-917, July.
    4. Ron Boschma & Rikard H. Eriksson & Urban Lindgren, 2014. "Labour Market Externalities and Regional Growth in Sweden: The Importance of Labour Mobility between Skill-Related Industries," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(10), pages 1669-1690, October.
    5. Anne Otto & Dirk Fornahl, 2010. "Origins of Human Capital in Clusters: Regional, Industrial and Academic Transitions in Media Clusters in Germany," Chapters, in: Dirk Fornahl & Sebastian Henn & Max-Peter Menzel (ed.), Emerging Clusters, chapter 5, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Alnuaimi, Tufool & Opsahl, Tore & George, Gerard, 2012. "Innovating in the periphery: The impact of local and foreign inventor mobility on the value of Indian patents," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(9), pages 1534-1543.
    7. Stuart, Toby & Sorenson, Olav, 2003. "The geography of opportunity: spatial heterogeneity in founding rates and the performance of biotechnology firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 229-253, February.
    8. Simonen, Jaakko & McCann, Philip, 2008. "Firm innovation: The influence of R&D cooperation and the geography of human capital inputs," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 146-154, July.
    9. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Eriksson, Rikard, 2017. "Job-related Mobility and Plant Performance in Sweden," CEPR Discussion Papers 12018, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Rupert Waters & Helen Lawton Smith, 2014. "Universities and science and engineering labour markets in high-technology local economies: the cases of Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire," Chapters, in: Charlie Karlsson & Börje Johansson & Kiyoshi Kobayashi & Roger R. Stough (ed.), Knowledge, Innovation and Space, chapter 11, pages 265-286, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Allen J. Scott, 2008. "Resurgent Metropolis: Economy, Society and Urbanization in an Interconnected World," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 548-564, September.
    12. Barak S. Aharonson & Joel A.C. Baum & Maryann P. Feldman, 2004. "Industrial Clustering and the Returns to Inventive Activity Canadian Biotechnology Firms, 1991-2000," DRUID Working Papers 04-03, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    13. Patton, Donald & Kenney, Martin, 2003. "The Spatial Distribution of Entrepreneurial Support Networks: Evidence from Semiconductor Inital Public Offerings from 1996 through 2000," UCAIS Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, Working Paper Series qt7mb03695, UCAIS Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, UC Berkeley.
    14. Ron Boschma & Riccardo Cappelli & Anet Weterings, 2017. "Labour mobility, skill-relatedness and plant survival over the industry life cycle: Evidence from new Dutch plants," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1731, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Dec 2017.
    15. Rolf Sternberg, 2010. "Neither Planned Nor by Chance: How Knowledge-Intensive Clusters Emerge," Chapters, in: Dirk Fornahl & Sebastian Henn & Max-Peter Menzel (ed.), Emerging Clusters, chapter 12, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Mai, Chao-cheng & Peng, Shin-kun, 1999. "Cooperation vs. competition in a spatial model," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 463-472, July.
    17. Jaakko Simonen & Philip McCann, 2010. "Knowledge transfers and innovation: The role of labour markets and R&D co‐operation between agents and institutions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(2), pages 295-309, June.
    18. Egan, Edmund A., 1996. "The Era of Microsoft? Technological Innovation, Network Externalities, and the Seattle Factor in the US Software Industry," UCAIS Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, Working Paper Series qt184913t9, UCAIS Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, UC Berkeley.
    19. David C. Maré & Richard Fabling & Steven Stillman, 2014. "Innovation and the local workforce," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(1), pages 183-201, March.

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