Of the world's biggest employers, who has shed the most jobs?

Correction to this article

UBS, Switzerland's biggest bank, announced 3,500 “staff reductions” on August 23rd in efforts to save costs. Last week, Bank of America reported it would cut 3,500 jobs (adding to the 2,500 it had already made this year) and last month Cisco, the world's largest maker of networking equipment, announced it was shedding 6,500 jobs. But of the world's biggest corporate employers (our chart excludes state behemoths like China's army) the US Postal Service shed the most jobs between 2009 and 2010, cutting its workforce by 6%. The contrast between the two charts below is striking: the biggest employers includes several Chinese state-backed companies that may be unfamiliar to readers outside China. The companies that have shed most jobs, on the other hand, are almost all Western outfits with famous names.

Correction: An earlier version of this chart and text incorrectly stated that Tesco had shed the most jobs between 2009 and 2010. This was not the case. In fact, Tesco increased its workforce by 3,500 jobs. We apologise for the error.