Economy
Manhattan's economy is heavily based on governmentally-funded entities. Kansas State University is the largest employer in town, and its 23,000 students support the retail and entertainment venues in the city. The second-largest employer in Manhattan is the city school district. Additionally, nearby Fort Riley also brings in lots of retail business, although the majority of soldiers live either on post or in closer Junction City or Ogden.
Other large employers in Manhattan include the Mercy Regional Health Center and Farm Bureau. Manhattan also supports a small industrial base. Manufacturing and commercial businesses include: GTM Sportswear, Florence Manufacturing, ICE Corporation, Manko Windows, The McCall Pattern Company and Farrar Corporation. Some, like GTM and Farrar have had success in the city – as college towns are known to outlive and sustain economic recessions better than most towns due to their economic base
In 2009, the United States Department of Homeland Security announced that it would locate the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, with construction scheduled to begin in 2010. The NBAF is scheduled to open in 2014, and will be a federal lab to research biological threats involving human, zoonotic (i.e., transmitted from animals to humans) and foreign animal diseases. It is expected to employ between 250–350 people, including researchers, technical support and operations specialists.
Read more about this topic: Manhattan, Kansas
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“The basis of political economy is non-interference. The only safe rule is found in the self-adjusting meter of demand and supply. Do not legislate. Meddle, and you snap the sinews with your sumptuary laws.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Even the poor student studies and is taught only political economy, while that economy of living which is synonymous with philosophy is not even sincerely professed in our colleges. The consequence is, that while he is reading Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Say, he runs his father in debt irretrievably.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)