Translation Services in Chicago – Economic Profile
With a population of about 9.7 million people the Chicago metropolitan area is the third largest in the United States. It is the most important hub for business, finance, transportation, culture, and tourism in the Midwest. Chicago, “the city that works”, is considered the world’s fourth most important business center and generated a gross metropolitan product of approximately $ 442 billion in 2007.
It has the nation’s second largest financial district and is host to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Chicago Stock Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and several major brokerage and insurance companies such as Allstate and Zurich North America. Several Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in this city, including Sara Lee Corp., Exelon Corp.,Tribune Co. and Boeing. Due to its location on the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed Chicago has long been a transportation and distribution hub. After holding the record for being the busiest airport in the world, Chicago O’Hare International Airport relinquished this position to Atlanta in 2005. It remains the world’s second busiest airport with more than 76 million passengers passing through in 2006.
The city’s economy is based on high-technology and the information industry, medical research, manufacturing, media, publishing, printing, food processing, and tourism. Chicago is the third largest media center in the USA and home to CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX. The city is one of the most important convention destinations in the United States, and its main convention center is McCormick Place. With its rich cultural scene and remarkable architecture Chicago is also a major tourist destination drawing about 40 million national and international visitors each year.
Medical research is a major sector of Chicago’s economy, and Chicago is considered a world center for education and research. The city is home to several prestigious institutions of higher education such as the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Northeastern University, Roosevelt University, and Rush University.
Medical research in Chicago is closely affiliated with its universities. Rush Medical College, Rush University Medical Center, the Feinberg School of Medicine, the Chicago Medical School, the University of Chicago Medical Center, and the University of Illinois College of Medicine are important and prestigious centers for medical research. Chicago also hosts the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, the American Society for Clinical Pathology and many more.
The city is home to an ethnically diverse community, of which the largest is of German origin followed by Irish, Poles, and Swedes (123,000). It features the largest Italian community (500,000) and the second largest African American population in the USA; it has the largest Polish community outside of Poland and has become home to countless immigrants from Eastern Europe such as Czechs, Bulgarians (150,000), Lithuanians, Romanians, Serbians, and Greeks. Other prevalent communities are Pakistani, Mexicans, Palestinians and Jordanians.
Chicago is a world city, featuring a great ethnic diversity which contributes extensively to its cultural, political and economic scene. The city is a global center for international business, finance, trade, conventions, and tourism. This has created a significant demand for multilingual services such as translation and conference interpreting and has given rise to opportunities in ethnic marketing, targeting the different ethnic groups represented in Chicago.
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