Philadelphia Career Opportunities

History/Background of Philadelphia
Philadelphia is the largest city and seat of Philadelphia County with an estimated population of more than 1.5 million in 2008 making it the 5th largest city in the U.S. It is also the fourth largest U.S. city as a consumer media market according to Nielsen Media Research. In its early days it was once the second largest city of the British Empire and the geographical and social center of the 13 original American colonies and it was the birthplace of the American Revolution where it momentarily served as the national capital while Washington, D.C. was still under construction. It was at the time the most populous city in the U.S. before being overtaken by New York City in 1790.

It was the Swedes who first took control of the area in 1637 and named it New Sweden. In the 1680’s the English took over and was included by England’s King Charles II in the Pennsylvania colony given to William Penn as partial payment for debt. Penn named the area Philadelphia which means brotherly love in Greek. In 1701 it was established as a city and soon became an important center of trade thus started the earliest Philadelphia career as traders. In the 1750’s under the charge of Benjamin Franklin the city had much improved services and found the first hospitals in the American Colonies starting the earliest Philadelphia careers in the healthcare industry. Construction of many canals, roads and railways turned Philadelphia into the first major industrial city in the U.S. and during the 19th century it had various industries biggest of which was textile production. The first official World Fair was held in the city on 1876.

The city continued to develop and grow through the 20th century with the population peaking at over 2 million during the 1950’s and then began to go down into the 1990’s. As the 21st century begins revitalization efforts are being done especially in the University City and Center City areas. As many of the old manufacturing businesses had left or closed the city began to attract service oriented businesses and promote tourism. Old historical areas were resuscitated and many modern skyscrapers were constructed. The city has become a commercial, cultural, and educational center with these industries now the leading providers of Philadelphia employment.

Companies in Philadelphia

The whole economic sector of Philadelphia includes financial services, food processing, healthcare, manufacturing, oil refining, and tourism providing for Philadelphia career. It has the fourth highest GDP of all American cities totaling $312 billion in 2005 just behind New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. There are several Fortune 500 companies based in Philadelphia including Aramark (food services), Boeing (aircraft), CIGNA (insurance), Colonial Penn (insurance), Comcast (internet and cable TV provider), Crown Holdings (Food services), FMC (chemicals), GlaxoSmithKline (pharmaceuticals), Lincoln Financial (insurance), Pep Boys (auto parts), Rohm and Haas (chemicals), Sunoco (energy), and Wyeth (pharmaceuticals) offering various types of Philadelphia careers in different fields. There are several federal facilities in Philadelphia as well like the U.S. Mint, and the Federal Reserve Bank. In the transport sector there is Amtrak which has employs a significant number of persons as customer service reps, ticket processors, operations personnel, and security personnel.

Philadelphia has also been and still is a center of laws and education in the U.S. having an abundance of schools of law such as in the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Rutgers University, Drexel University, Villanova University, and Widener University providing many Philadelphia opportunities in these disciplines. The city is also a major center of medicine since the establishment of the first hospital in the U.S., Pennsylvania Hospital. There is also the first medical school in all of the U.S. in University of Pennsylvania which is also the largest private employer in the city and numerous hospitals and medical facilities affiliated with the other universities in the area and there are 3 dedicated children’s hospitals in the city as well. All these contribute to making the health care sector the largest provider of Philadelphia jobs such as physicians, nurses, medical assistants and aides, and all other healthcare related work.
All in all, the employment outlook for finding a Philadelphia career is good especially in the fields where the city is a center such as in healthcare. Other areas of good employment chances are in tourism, retail sales and print and radio media.

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