As of December 31, 2009, our company had 33,062 employees. The number of employees in 2009 hardly changed in comparison with 2008. Merck was represented in 61 countries by 176 companies and had 54 production sites located in 26 countries.
In several countries, there were significant changes in the number of employees. In China, the workforce increased by 455 employees owing to the expansion of the pharmaceutical business and the acquisition of the pigment producer Suzhou Taizhu Technology Development. In India, the number of employees rose by 388, mainly owing to the expansion of the Merck Serono business and the acquisition of the bioscience firm Bangalore Genei. In France, the number of employees declined by 306. This is attributable to both the transfer of the primary care field force to the Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo in January, and to the closure of the Chilly-Mazarin site in March. In Italy, the number of employees fell by 108 since employees here were also transferred to Daiichi Sankyo and research activities were relocated. In the United States, the site in Madison, Wisconsin was closed, reducing the headcount by 243. In Brazil, the headcount declined by 117 owing to the disposal of two locations, São Luís and Barra do Corda.
Number of employees as of December 31, 2009
Because of a drop in demand in several businesses, employees in Pigments and Patinal production at the Gernsheim site in Germany began working reduced hours in May. In September, similar measures were also introduced at the organic synthesis plant located at that site. We terminated reduced working hours as of December 31, 2009. Similar measures to scale back production were taken at the Pigments production sites in Japan and the United States.
Likewise, in response to the economic crisis, in December 2008 Merck adopted a very restrictive hiring policy which applies Group-wide and remains in place until further notice.
In 2009, 22% of our employees worked in production, 33% in marketing and sales, 11% in research and development, and 5% in logistics. The remaining employees worked in areas such as Engineering, Environment, IT, Finance, and Human Resources. In 2009, more than 519 young people were enrolled in vocational training programs in 19 different occupations at the Darmstadt site, the largest of the Merck Group. We are thus keeping the number of apprentices at a consistently high level. Measures relating to personnel marketing and development are presented in the Risk Report.
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