General Electric Co. last year shed roughly 78,000 employees, or more than a quarter of its workforce, as divestitures left the company with the same number of employees as it had in 1951.

The company ended 2019 with about 205,000 global workers, down from about 283,000 a year ago, according to GE’s annual report filed on Monday. In the U.S., its workforce dropped to 70,000.

It...