Business And The Economy In Philadelphia
When you look at Philadelphia today it is difficult to believe that this is a city that had a very difficult start. In the early days it is said that there was excessive poverty here before major efforts at commerce and infrastructure developments led by such famous names as Benjamin Franklin gradually brought prosperity to the city and to its’ people. Philadelphia was also once the capital of the United States before the construction of Washington DC.
Today this is a city with a booming economy. In 2010 the Bureau of Economic Analysis placed it the 7th largest economy in the United States with a gross metropolitan product of $347 billion. This is hardly surprising when you realize that Philadelphia hosts many big industries and corporations that employ multitudes of people.
One thing that will always be very noticeable to any first time visitor to Philadelphia is the high number of apparel shops in the city. This among other things, underlines the strength of this metropolis when it comes to the textile industry. But there are also plenty of other shops selling a wide range of every imaginable product and service under the sun that you can think of. It is said that the city never goes to sleep and this is certainly true in the business, commerce and retail sectors in this city.
Up to the 1980s the city’s port as well as petroleum refining facilities dominated the economy. However today, service industries have overtaken manufacturing to dominate commerce in Philadelphia. This is best illustrated by employment figures which clearly show that although manufacturing once employed 50 per cent of the workers, it accounts for only a measly 10 per cent of the workforce today.
The leading economic sectors in Philadelphia today point to the dominance of the service industry in this economy. They include advertising, financial services and book publishing. Healthcare is also pretty big with 20 per cent of the workers in this city in healthcare, biomedical or the pharmaceutical industries.
In recent years tourism has also been of growing economic importance and there has been a deliberate effort to develop it, using the city’s numerous historic attractions. Most of these efforts have borne fruit. For example in 2008 Philadelphia was the 11th most visited city in the United States and hosted a staggering 710,000 foreigners from many different nations of the world.
No article on the economy of Philadelphia would be complete without mentioning the fact that the city is a very important center for medicine going back to before the declaration of independence. This city has the distinction of having the very first hospital. This was Pennsylvania Hospital. It also launched the very first medical school in the nation. With such a strong historical foundation it is not surprising that even today medicine plays a very major role in the economy and financial well being of this city. This is further confirmed by the fact that healthcare is also the largest employer in Philadelphia.
In conclusion, there is no doubt that Philadelphia boasts a strong resilient economy that has clearly stood the test of time and survived numerous economic downturns to emerge as one of the strongest in the United States.