Translation Services in New York City - Economic Profile

With a population of about 8 million people, New York City is the largest and most densely populated city in the United States.  It is one of the world’s most important centers for international business and commerce, foreign affairs, politics, education, media, and arts. As one of the world’s top financial centres, it is also home to the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ, as well as forty Fortune 500 companies such as Altria Group, American International Group, Sony Music, Goldmann Sachs Group, American Express, Pepsi Co,  J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., Pfizer and many more. Given its importance as one of the world’s most important cities, New York City is home to the headquarters of the United Nations as well as about 120 international consulates.

In addition to finance, insurance and real estate, New York is also a hub for creative industries such as media, advertising and fashion. The Big Apple has the second largest film industry in the world after Hollywood. Global media companies such as Time Warner and Viacom, and major American broadcasting companies like ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX are headquartered here.

In addition, New York City is an important center for high-tech industries, medical research, non-profit institutions and education. Some of the city’s important economic sectors include the chemical and electronic industry, printing, textiles and the services sector. With about 40 million travelers visiting New York each year the city is also a major travel destination, and tourism is an important sector in the city’s economy.

About 600,000 students attend New York’s public and private universities. The city is home to some of the nation’s most important and prestigious centers for higher education and research such as the City University of New York, Colombia University, New York University, Barnard College, Rockefeller University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Weill Cornell Medical College. The global orientation of New York’s highly diversified business and public sector institutions gives rises to a great demand for linguistic services.

New York, often referred to as a melting pot of cultures, is shaped by an extraordinary ethnical and cultural diversity. Since 1825 the city has had a long history of immigration. Today 36% of its population is foreign born. Contrary to other American cities such as Miami or Los Angeles which have experienced immigration mainly from Latin America, New York has been attracting immigrants from all over the world. Among the most important communities are African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Italians, West Indians, Dominicans and Chinese.

Even today immigrants continue to arrive in great numbers from the Dominican Republic and China, Jamaica, Guyana, Pakistan, Ecuador, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia and Russia. New York is home to the largest Jewish community in the USA. In total there are about 170 languages spoken in New York. Not only does this ethnic and linguistic diversity result in a large demand for language and translation services, it has also given a rise to ethnic marketing, an important new industry which targets the different ethnic and linguistic groups represented in New York City.