The pandemic was an economic boon for the nation’s tech centers last year, but the tide already has turned as consumers’ demand for remote work software, delivered food and streaming entertainment subsides.
Tech-driven counties in California’s Silicon Valley and around Seattle, Washington, and Austin, Texas, boomed as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, according to a Stateline analysis of new data on economic output released this month by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The analysis of 2019-2021 changes in county-by-county gross domestic product, known as GDP, shows how local economies fared in the early months of the pandemic, an indicator of how Americans responded at a time when many were staying home and supply chain problems interrupted some consumer buying.
“When the pandemic came along, we all thought it was going to be a crippling blow to our economy, but we were wrong. It was a bonanza,” said Russell Hancock, CEO of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a private-public economic development group based in Santa Clara County.