Employees

On December 31, 2006, ThyssenKrupp had 184,240 employees worldwide, 1.8% fewer than at the end of the past fiscal year. The 3,346 reduction in headcount is largely due to disposals as part of our portfolio optimization measures; a Brazilian foundry and auto part plants in the USA, Canada and Mexico were sold.

As a result of disposals, the size of our workforce outside Germany fell by 3.2% to 100,226. In Germany, the number of employees was virtually unchanged at 84,014. At the end of 2006, 46% of our workforce were employed in Germany, 24% in the rest of Europe and 16% in the NAFTA area.

ThyssenKrupp is making increasing use of new technologies and learning media to train its employees. These include an e-learning portal – available throughout the Group – which allows employees to learn at their own pace directly at the workplace. Employees can plan their training flexibly as they can access the network-based content online at any time. There is a broad array of subjects on offer, including languages, IT, business management, data protection and project management. Online training is also used as part of our compliance program on competition law and combating corruption.