in the 1950s and 1960s, westphalia was known as land von kohle und stahl or the land of coal and steel. in the post-world war ii recovery, the ruhr was one of the most important industrial regions in europe, and contributed to the german wirtschaftswunder. as of the late 1960s, repeated crises led to contractions of these industrial branches. on the other hand, producing sectors, particularly in mechanical engineering and metal and iron working industry, experienced substantial growth. despite this structural change and an economic growth which was under national average, the 2007 gdp of 529.4 billion euro (21.8 percent of the total german gdp) made the land the economically most important in germany, as well as one of the most important economical areas in the world.[16] of germany's top 100 corporations, 37 are based in north rhine-westphalia. on a per capita base, however, north rhine-westphalia remains one of the weaker among the western german states.[17] as of june 2014, the unemployment rate is 8.2%, second highest among all western german states.[18]
