User:GbrooksPDXStudent/sandbox2

Economy
In 2018, the GDP of Berlin totaled €147 billion, an increase of 3.1% over the previous year. Berlin's economy is dominated by the service sector, with around 84% of all companies doing business in services. In 2015, the total labour force in Berlin was 1.85 million. The unemployment rate reached a 24-year low in November 2015 and stood at 10.0%. From 2012 to 2015 Berlin, as a German state, had the highest annual employment growth rate. Around 130,000 jobs were added in this period.

Important economic sectors in Berlin include life sciences, transportation, information and communication technologies, media and music, advertising and design, biotechnology, environmental services, construction, e-commerce, retail, hotel business, and medical engineering.

Of these sectors, the most important is health services which account for approximately 180,000 employees across the city.

Research and development have economic significance for the city. However, from 2011 to 2013 the gross expenditure of SMEs Several major corporations like Volkswagen, Pfizer, and SAP operate innovation laboratories in the city. The Science and Business Park in Adlershof is the largest technology park in Germany measured by revenue. Within the Eurozone, Berlin has become a center for business relocation and international investments.

Companies
Many German and international companies have business or service centers in the city. For several years Berlin has been recognized as a major center of business founders. In 2015 Berlin generated the most venture capital for young startup companies in Europe, many of them tech firms. Google has seen the potential of Berlin as a center for innovation, pledging money to local tech firms, such as Factory Berlin , and originally planning to open their own campus in Kreuzberg before being rejected by the city.

Among the 10 largest employers in Berlin are the City-State of Berlin, Deutsche Bahn, the hospital providers Charité and Vivantes, the Federal Government of Germany, the local public transport provider BVG, Siemens and Deutsche Telekom. The two largest banks headquartered in the capital are Investitionsbank Berlin and Landesbank Berlin.

Daimler manufactures cars, and BMW builds motorcycles in Berlin. Bayer Health Care and Berlin Chemie are major pharmaceutical companies in the city.

Siemens, a Global 500 and DAX-listed company is partly headquartered in Berlin. The national railway operator Deutsche Bahn, the MDAX-listed firms Axel Springer SE and Zalando, and the SDAX listed company Rocket Internet have their main headquarters in the central districts. Among the largest international corporations who operate a German or European headquarter in Berlin are Bombardier Transportation, Gazprom Germania, Coca-Cola, Pfizer and Total S.A..