A location for business and industry
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Over 56,000 companies employ 357,000 people in the industrial economy of the region. They make an overall turnover of 14.2 billion euros. The structure of the local industry is dominated by mechanical engineering, the paper and food industry, chemical industry as well as the production of rubber and plastic goods. The above-average export quota for the manufacturing industry lies at 40 percent.
The service sector is becoming increasingly important following a successful structural transition: it now contributes to almost 70 percent of the gross value added. The former traditional industries of cloth and needle production today only play a subordinate role. Brown coal mining - including in the Hambach open-cast mine, one of the world's largest brown-coalfields - will remain very important in future. On the other hand, the last black coal mine in the former traditional The Aachen region can boast over 14,000 highly qualified handicraft businesses from all lines of industry. More than half of the companies are active in the construction and finishing trade as well as in the electrical and metal industry. The companies provide employment for 110,000 people and generate an annual turnover of around 6.9 billion euros. Their annual export quota is 135 million euros.
The excellent training in the factories, university workshops and vocational schools is a basis for the high quality. The regional small trades place great store in the further qualification of both employees and employers even beyond the master craftsman's examination.
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