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Not just Oakland. The majority of the Bay Area exists to support commuting to San Francisco. The peninsula tech companies are actually a newer phenomenon.

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Newer? Are you aware of the 50-year history of semiconductor and defense companies in the area between Palo Alto and San Jose?

Yes, and I'd contend that there are far more "new" tech companies in the peninsula now than there ever were semiconductor and defense companies. There are certainly far more people here now than there were fifty years ago, and the big names in the peninsula are probably a bigger employer than the "old" tech.

As a former Oaklander, I take offense at your statement. :-)

Oakland exists as an industrial hub. Emeryville, on the other hand, exists as a suburb of San Francisco (though I think that with recent business expansion, it's becoming its own city). As far as I know, this is still the case, and more people live and work in Oakland than live in Oakland and commute into SF.

Emeryville is a small employment hub, per http://www.census.gov/hhes/commuting/data/daytimepop.html

Employment/residence ratios

Emeryville 4.36 San Francisco 1.40 Oakland 1.06

and a few others FWIW

Berkeley 1.30 Dublin 1.05 Mountain View 1.47 Palo Alto 2.54 San Jose 0.88 (qualifying it as largest suburb in the US, IMO)

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