SANTA CRUZ >> The Santa Cruz County tech sector is providing high-paying jobs averaging more than $100,000 a year, but future growth of those jobs will depend on whether there is housing for those workers.

That was the forecast by economist Chris Thornberg Wednesday night for 500 people at the Cocoanut Grove, hosting the 10th anniversary of the Santa Cruz New Tech MeetUp.

“Growth depends on land use,” said Thornberg,

He presented preliminary findings from a report commissioned by the Santa Cruz Workforce Development Board. Among those findings:

° Santa Cruz County has about 5,000 tech jobs.

° About 10,000 residents commute to Silicon Valley to work in technology.

° The county has about 100,000 housing units, with a growth of 1.5 percent in the past five years.

“It’s about the commuters who want to live here and who are driving on a daily basis to San Jose,” Thornberg said.

“You need to foster a high job concentration region,” he added, pointing out research in Riverside had found the highest paid jobs concentrated in big job centers.

For those who want to grow the high-paying tech sector, his advice is to show up at city council meetings when a big apartment building is proposed and speak up to support housing when others say “not in my backyard.”

Otherwise, “you’re part of the problem,” he said to loud applause.

“The curse and the blessing” of Santa Cruz are that local startups are not just competing for talent with Silicon Valley tech companies but the local talent is competing with those Silicon Valley commuters for the limited housing stock.

Santa Cruz County has about 650 tech firms, with the highest pay in computer manufacturing, computer system design, followed by software.

Last year, venture capitalists invested $200 million in Santa Cruz County tech companies, up from $100-plus million the year before.

“A lot of money is sitting on sidelines waiting to get in,” he said. “There’s a lot of new startups…With new companies, you know job growth is not far behind.”

The unemployment rate in Santa Cruz County is less than 6 percent, which is hampering business expansion, Thornberg said.

“Businesses that want to expand have trouble filling spots,” he said. “We had a hike in the minimum wage and no one talked about it. You’re not worried about paying minimum wage to a person who doesn’t exist.”

At the outset of the event, meetup founder Doug Erickson pointed out the group had grown to 4,000-plus members and hosted 9,544 presentations.

Erickson recalled one of the early presenters was the founder of Evernote, now a billion-dollar company.

Venture capitalist Bud Colligan gave Erickson a thank-you gift for investing 10 years to create a healthy tech eco-system in Santa Cruz.

Mark Adams, who has been part of the meetup for five years, bid farewell, sharing that his father died and he wants to spend more time with his family.

Startup co-founder Sam Lessin of Fin told the group artificial intelligence had been over-hyped but he is working on a new digital assistant that he hopes will be better.

During the “fireside chat” between tech evangelist Guy Kawasaki and UC Santa Cruz computer science professor Marilyn Walker, Kawasaki asked her opinion of Siri.

“It was a market-changing thing at a time when people said conversation couldn’t done,” she said. “By the time people figured out it didn’t work, they already bought the phone.”

2017 Venture Capital Deals

Looker: $81.5 million

Bastille Networks: $26.97 million

SomaGenics: $25 million

Two Pore Guys: $24.5 million

Zero Motorcycles: $16 million

Inboard: $8 million

PayStand: $6 million

Broadband Discovery: $3.6 million

Buoy Labs: $1 million

Source: Pitchbook, Beacon Economics