Globalization plays in Peoria as the weak dollar brings benefitsUS News & World Report:
... But in Peoria, Caterpillar has added roughly 3,000 local jobs in the past five years and today employs about 17,500 workers in the area. Bernard Goitein, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Bradley University in Peoria, says Caterpillar's global sales are considered a key local economic indicator. The center's fall 2007 survey of local consumer confidence found nearly half of families said they were better off financially than a year ago. And Peoria isn't as reliant on Caterpillar's success as it once was, because of rising employment in healthcare and technology.

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