Measuring the Tech Industry’s Impact on U.S. & Canada Office Markets

Economic and business uncertainty caused U.S. office leasing activity to decline by 44% overall and by 46% for the tech industry in Q2 2020 compared with the 2019 quarterly averages.

Government shelter-in-place mandates and extended work-from-home policies caused a reduction in office leasing activity by technology companies in Q2 amid an economic recession.

The tech industry has accounted for just 137,000 of 21.4 million jobs lost since the COVID-19 shutdown began in March, making it one of the U.S. economy’s most resilient employment sectors.

Scoring Tech Talent is a comprehensive analysis of labor market conditions, cost and quality in the U.S., Canada and Latin America for highly skilled tech workers. The report offers insights on how tech labor trends inform decisions and influence economic growth and real estate.

Office space demand from the tech industry is highly correlated to venture capital funding. In 2019, tech firms accounted for 22% of U.S. leasing activity and private, venture capital-backed tech firms accounted for about one-quarter of that total.

Software, search and e-commerce companies collectively expanded their share of the largest 100 tech-industry office leases in 2019, while leasing momentum increased in markets such as Manhattan, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Technology companies account for about half of the NASDAQ index market capitalization and its performance represents future business and workforce growth. As a result, national high-tech industry employment is highly correlated with the NASDAQ.