The 5th Ward - Economy

Economy

Main article: Economy of Lexington, Kentucky See also: List of employers in Lexington, Kentucky

With its abundance of government and technology jobs, Lexington has one of the nation's most stable economies. Lexington has been described as having "a fortified economy, strong in manufacturing, technology and entrepreneurial support, benefiting from a diverse, balanced business base". The Lexington Metro Area had a July 2008 unemployment rate of only 5.4%. Lexington was named the 4th best city for "Businesses and Careers" in 2011 by Forbes Magazine, the 5th best city for Young Professionals in 2008 and 6th Best Value Cities 2011 by Kiplinger. As such, the city is home to several large corporations. There are three Fortune 500 companies located within the city, Affiliated Computer Services, Lexmark International and Hewlett Packard, employing 1,200, 3,450, and 250 respectively. United Parcel Service, Trane, Tempur-Pedic, International and Amazon.com, Inc. have a large presence in the city, and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky is within the Lexington CSA in adjoining Georgetown. The city is also host to a Jif peanut butter plant that produces more peanut butter than any other factory in the world, and to the Forcht Group of Kentucky, a holding company that employs more than 2,100 people across Kentucky. Forcht Group operates several businesses in Lexington including First Corbin Bancorp, Kentucky National Insurance Company, My Favorite Things, BSC, a bank data services company, and First Lab, among others.

The city's largest employer, the University of Kentucky, as of 2012, employs about 14,000, although that number is expected to shrink due to reduced funding from the state. The University is the ninth largest economic company in the state of Kentucky, with an annual budget of $1.4 billion, and the College of Medicine within the University is the 21st-largest company in the state.

Other sizable employers include the Lexington-Fayette County government and other hospital facilities. This includes the Fayette County Public Schools, employing 4,651, and the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, employing 3,936. Central Baptist Hospital, Saint Joseph Hospital, Saint Joseph East, and the Veterans Administration Hospital employ 6,206 total.

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Famous quotes containing the word economy:

    “The aim of the laborer should be, not to get his living, to get “a good job,” but to perform well a certain work; and, even in a pecuniary sense, it would be economy for a town to pay its laborers so well that they would not feel that they were working for low ends, as for a livelihood merely, but for scientific, or even moral ends. Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them.... for really new ideas of any kind—no matter how ultimately profitable or otherwise successful some of them might prove to be—there is no leeway for such chancy trial, error and experimentation in the high-overhead economy of new construction. Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings.”
    —Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)

    “Quidquid luce fuit tenebris agit: but also the other way around. What we experience in dreams, so long as we experience it frequently, is in the end just as much a part of the total economy of our soul as anything we “really” experience: because of it we are richer or poorer, are sensitive to one need more or less, and are eventually guided a little by our dream-habits in broad daylight and even in the most cheerful moments occupying our waking spirit.”
    —Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)