The average American will never work for Google or Apple. But the rise of the high tech sector matters to all of us, including those who work outside high tech. One important reason is that attracting an Internet company or a biotech company to a city results in significant job gains for workers in the local service sector – occupations like waiters, carpenters, doctors and teachers. I call this the multiplier effect. This multiplier effect is surprisingly large. My research shows that for each new high tech job in a city, five additional jobs are created outside high tech in that city. In essence, from the point of view of a city, a high-tech job is much more than a job.