Google Bay View Campus in Mountain View
high cost of living as one of the factors influencing the evaporating pool of talent. “A lot of people who are considering moving to California say that they wouldn’t make the move unless they had a higher-paying job, because it’s no revelation that things—products and services—in the state cost more.” She’s not off the mark. According to RentCafe, an online housing and rental authority, the cost of living in California is 38% higher than the national average. Even more startling, however,
Talent drain? On the talent issue, Laub says that a diminishing talent pool is one of the looming issues the state is grappling with right now. “Retaining skilled workers is, in my opinion, one of the most challenging things facing the tech industry. In part, because of the shift to remote workplaces over the past few years, I think it’s had the effect of spreading out talent in a wider range than it used to occupy, and that’s created some hurdles,” she says. But statistics indicate that California’s tech talent isn’t merely spreading out. Rather, it’s packing up and leaving. A recent article in the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that, according to the most recent update from the U.S. Census Bureau, California had a net population loss of about 750,000 in 2021 and 2022, with far more people abandoning the state than moving here. A similar analysis in the Los Angeles Times reported that those leaving aren’t just low-income individuals and families deeply motivated to find cheaper places to live.
is how much it costs to buy a house in the Golden State. Again, compared to the national average, housing is 97% more expensive. Diverse and inclusive Despite some of the challenges California is facing, there’s an abundance of positivity surrounding many of the lifestyle aspects that the state’s high-tech culture influences and offers. For one, as Laub says, “I think because a lot of these companies in the tech field attract top talent with very diverse skillsets, the culture [in the state] has become global; it draws a lot of diversity, racially and culturally.” Few places in the world offer more cultural diversity than California. A visit to any of the state’s major cities is like taking a masterclass in experiencing some of the most remarkably ethnic neighborhoods in the country, all of them spilling over with a plethora of exotic restaurants, shops, museums and cultural exhibits. The effect is to expand our knowledge and appreciation of the global melting pot that the Grand American experiment was designed to impart. “The most experimental
“For two consecutive years,” the article states, “more than 250,000 Californians with
at least a bachelor’s degree moved out, while an average of 175,000 college graduates from other states settled in California.” Laub cites the state’s increasingly
part of the United States is California,” says Roberto Suro, a professor of public policy at the University of Southern California. “Right now, we’re engaged in a phenomenal experiment of trying to see how a very
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