Samsung, one of the largest electronics company in the world, was forced to reduce its global workforce due to the restructuring of its business operations in China, based on company data. The data shows that the electronics giant has reduced the number of its employees in 2016 by 5.2 percent, from 325,677 down to 308,745. In its South Korean home base, Samsung has cut down its workforce by 3.8 percent and is now down to 93,204 while it slashed the number of its employees abroad by 5.8 percent and is now currently 215,541. It was in China where the largest workforce reduction was implemented in 2016 where the labor force was slashed down by 17.5 percent and is now down to just 37, 070. However, the North and South American workforce experienced an increase in employee numbers by 8.5 percent, and now count 25,988 employees.
Not every Samsung outpost out there experienced workforce downsizing. The company’s operations in Japan, as well as in other Southeast Asian countries, experienced an increase when it comes to employees number over the past year. There were around 28,000 people that joined Samsung’s Southeast Asian facilities last year, increasing this region’s workforce to 140,437. However, the overall percentage of employees in Samsung’s international operations declined 0.4 percent to 69.8 percent at the close of 2016. This reduction in the number of employees in South Korea occurred when HP Inc. acquired the printing business of Samsung. Additionally, the electronics giant restructured its operations in China and other Asian countries that led to the reduction in the overall number of its workforce in this region.
While the ratio of Samsung’s female employees also dropped 2 percent to 44 percent in 2016, the number of female managers and executives increased from 12.4 percent and 4.5 percent respectively in 2015 to 12.7 percent and 6.3 percent in 2016. The South Korean company has been very active in developing business partnerships with other companies abroad in line with its core business. This was revealed by Samsung’s data which showed that as of the close of 2016, the electronics giant has 2,468 co-operative business partners around the world. As of last year, Samsung has been maintaining 238 major production facilities, 34 research and development centers, seven design centers, 53 distribution centers and 73 service centers all over the world.