SAN JOSE — Silicon Valley’s economic boom has created a surge of new jobs and slashed unemployment rates — but it also has drastically worsened the region’s commutes and contributed to the housing crisis, according to two new studies released Wednesday.
One takeaway from the studies that stunned experts: The Silicon Valley “megacommute” — defined as a single motorist driving 90 minutes or longer one way to work — is actually worse here in the Bay Area than is the case even in traffic-choked Los Angeles County.
“This is a sad tale,” said Russell Hancock, president of Joint Venture Silicon Valley. “It shows how hot our economy is, but it also shows how bad our housing and traffic problems are.” Joint Venture’s Institute for Regional Studies released the two reports.
The commuting study, prepared by Jon Haveman, chief economist with San Rafael-based Marin Economic Consulting, determined that during 2015, 5.3 percent of solo drivers endured megacommutes. In Los Angeles County, the rate of motorists facing the same commuting grind was 4.6 percent.
“It’s shocking,” Haveman said. “It’s surprising to see that in the last couple of years, Silicon Valley has become worse than Los Angeles.” Silicon Valley in the traffic study was defined as the combination of Santa Clara County and San Mateo County.
Joint Venture did a second study that indicated housing development is further falling behind the pace of population and jobs growth in Santa Clara County, San Mateo County and San Francisco.
From 2007 to 2016, those counties added a combined 344,000 residents but gained just 69,500 housing units, according to a study prepared by Stephen Levy, director of the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.
“Surging job growth has brought many residents back into the workforce, while also resulting in out-of-reach housing costs and growing congestion,” Levy said.
But the employment upswing also has led to more crowded households, Levy said. In 2007, the average household contained 2.65 people. By 2016, that number had risen to 2.77 per household.
“If the economy tanks, then we won’t create jobs the way we used to, but nobody wants the economy to tank,” Hancock said. “We don’t really have a fix for this problem right now. At some point, these problems can lead to an exodus.
“You may see more outsourcing of nonessential local jobs. Companies will choose to expand elsewhere.”
The studies were released just days before Santa Clara County voters decide on Measure B, a ballot item that would impose an increase of a half-cent in the sales tax and raise $6.3 billion for an array of transportation and transit improvements. Among the upgrades: bringing BART to downtown San Jose, improvements to Caltrain, expansion of nine expressways in Santa Clara County, street maintenance and repairs, and bicycle and pedestrian projects.
That timing of the studies’ release was a “coincidence,” said Duffy Jennings, a spokesman for Joint Venture Silicon Valley. The board of the nonpartisan group endorsed Measure B a few months ago. Jennings said the studies have been under preparation for “months.”
The commuting study determined that 21 percent of those employed in the Santa Clara County-San Mateo County region live outside of the area. The megacommuters who travel into Silicon Valley include 18.4 percent who come from Alameda County, 19.8 percent from San Francisco and 13.1 percent from San Joaquin County.
An estimated 74 percent of Silicon Valley residents drive to work alone, 10 percent carpool and 6 percent take public transit.
Haveman said there’s no end in sight to Silicon Valley’s housing and traffic woes.
“As the traffic and housing problems worsen,” Haveman said, “the jobs that will be kept here will primarily be high-skill, high-end jobs, jobs only for people who can afford to live here.”
