Economy
The economy of Fairfax County revolves around professional services and technology. Many residents work for the government or for contractors of the federal government. The government is the largest employer, with Fort Belvoir in southern Fairfax being the county's single largest location of federal employment. With a gross county product of about $95 billion, the economy of Fairfax County is larger than that of Morocco.
Fairfax County also is home to major employers such as Volkswagen Group of America, Hilton Worldwide, CSC (formerly Computer Sciences Corporation), Northrop Grumman, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), SRA International, Gannett, Capital One, General Dynamics, ICF International, Freddie Mac, Sallie Mae, ManTech International, Mars, NII and NVR. ExxonMobil headquarters its downstream operations in the county at a site that was formerly the headquarters of Mobil Oil. The county is home to seven Fortune 500 company headquarters, 11 Hispanic 500 companies, and five companies on the Black Enterprise 500 list. Northrop Grumman announced in 2010 that it would move its corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to Fairfax County.
The economy of the county is supported by the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, which provides services and information designed to promote Fairfax County as a leading business and technology center. The FCEDA is the largest non-state economic development authority in the nation. Fairfax County is also home to the Northern Virginia Technology Council, a trade association for local technology companies. It is the largest technology council in the nation, with technology industry figures such as Bill Gates and Meg Whitman speaking at various local banquets. Fairfax County has a higher concentration of high-tech workers than the Silicon Valley.
Read more about this topic: Fairfax County, Virginia
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“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)
“The counting-room maxims liberally expounded are laws of the Universe. The merchant’s economy is a coarse symbol of the soul’s economy. It is, to spend for power, and not for pleasure.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical terms.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)