Tech

Will New York City become the new Silicon Valley?

The Big Apple is having its own tech bubble.

New York City is catching up to Silicon Valley as a tech hub, a development that is boosting the city’s lackluster economy.

In the past decade, New York has been adding hundreds of thousands of jobs that are the direct or indirect result of the technology sector, according to a report by HR&A Advisers.

Tech firms directly generated nearly 300,000 jobs for the city, the report said.

“Over the last few years, we’ve seen a wave of e-commerce companies, many of which have focused on building their brand here,” said Ellie Wheeler, a principal with Greycroft Partners, a venture-capital fund that focuses on financing tech startups.

“Tech is clearly a growing sector here. We are developing an innovation economy.” She added that the city government has been effective in “providing affordable real estate for tech startups.”

The effects of the city’s tech business have been felt in Silicon Valley. Some firms now believe they should have a presence here.

One of them, Google, which has made big investments in the city over the past decade.

Indeed, New York City’s tech hiring rates are high.

“In terms of overall,” the study said in examining hiring rates between 2003 and 2010, “the NYC tech ecosystem is larger than that of San Francisco and fell only 56,000 jobs short of Silicon Valley.”

Looking at the city’s economy over the past decade, the report found that the “tech ecosystem,” which means jobs that are produced by technology or use technology, has become a major component.

Tech now rivals the city’s other major employment sectors — health care, retail, legal and finance.

“From 2003 to 2013, the New York City tech ecosystem added 45,000 jobs, growing at a faster pace than both total New York City employment and total US employment,” the report said.

“The New York City tech ecosystem grew from 246,000 jobs, to 291,000, an increase of 18 percent. In comparison, over the same period, employment increased by 12 percent in New York City and 4 percent nationally.”

The multiplier impact, the indirect effect of these jobs, generates 541,000 out of the city’s some 4.27 million jobs.

The tech sector has become essential to the city’s economy for meaningful middle-class salary — earning an average of $40 an hour or 49 percent more than the average hourly rate.

The tech sector is also paying for more of the city’s basic services.

“The New York City tech ecosystem generates over $5.6 billion in annual tax revenues to the city, representing 12.3 percent of the city’s 2013 tax revenue,” the report said.