Curious to learn what the largest corporations by employees are? While your average, medium to large sized business offers employment to hundreds or sometimes thousands of people, there are a few corporations out there with millions of people on their payroll.
We would like to present you with a list we have compiled of the largest corporations in the world based on the total number of people they employ. The figures are taken from the Fortune Global 500, and non-corporate organizations, such as the United States Department of Defense or the Indian Railways, which also have an impressive number of employees, were excluded from the countdown. The figures were published in July 2012 and are based on the previous fiscal year, according to the data released by each corporation. McDonald’s, which has approximately 1.9 employees on payroll, according to BBC, was also excluded from the countdown due to the fact that a significant proportion of these employees work in one of the numerous McDonald franchises.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), the multinational US-based retail corporation, has emerged as the leading organization in terms of number of employees, with an impressive 2,200,000 workers. However, 6 out the 10 corporations have their main offices in China, which, coincidence or not, is also the world’s most populous country. Only one European corporation has made the countdown (in a style similar to our coverage of how to be successful in the stock market), the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen.
Wondering who else has made it on the list of the largest corporations by employees? Let’s take a look.
No. 10: Aviation Industry Corporation of China, China
No. of employees: 480,147
No. 9: China Telecommunications, China
No. of employees: 491,447
No. 8: Volkswagen, Germany
No. of employees: 501,956
No. 7: US Postal Service, The United States
No. of employees: 601,601
No. 6: China Post Group, China
No. of employees: 889,307
No. 5: Hon Hai Precision Industry, Taiwan
No. of employees: 961,000
No. 4: Sinopec, China
No. of employees: 1,021,979
No. 3: State Grid Corporation of China, China
No. of employees: 1,583,000
No. 2: China National Petroleum Corporation, China
No. of employees: 1,668,072
No. 1: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), The United States
No. of employees: 2,200,000
