Economy
Taunton Deane had a low unemployment rate of 4.1% compared with the national average of 5.0% in 2005.
Taunton is home to the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) which is an organisation within the Ministry of Defence responsible for providing navigational and other hydrographic information for national, civil and defence requirements. The UKHO is located on Admiralty Way and has a workforce of approximately 850 staff. At the start of the Second World War chart printing moved to Taunton but the main office did not move until 1968.
The Avimo company, which made precision instruments in Taunton, became part of Thales Optics in 2001, however their manufacturing is no longer in Taunton having been transferred along with a number of staff to Glasgow and Wells. Taunton is also home to one of the head offices of Debenhams (which is due to close at the end of 2012), Western Provident Association, Viridor and CANDAC.
Moreover, the town is home to a Defra regional office at Quantock House on Paul St, the Charity Commission for England and Wales, General Electric, Screwfix. Taunton is also famous for the production of cider.
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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)
“Unaware of the absurdity of it, we introduce our own petty household rules into the economy of the universe for which the life of generations, peoples, of entire planets, has no importance in relation to the general development.”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)