Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), Taiwan’s largest financial services provider by assets, retained its title this year as the largest employer among listed peers, according to a Taiwan Stock Exchange’s (TWSE) social responsibility review released yesterday.
Cathay Financial employs about 43,000 people, comfortably ahead of the next company on the list, contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), which has 30,113 employees, and third-place Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), with 28,954 employees, the exchange said.
Telecoms operator Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) and chip packager and tester Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光半導體) ranked fourth and fifth with 24,664 and 19,500 employees respectively, the exchange said.
“Each employee [helps] support one family,” TWSE chairman Schive Chi (薛琦) said.
Along with the annual review, the stock exchange said its Taiwan Employment Creation 99 Index added five new members this year: Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控), Wowprime Corp (王品), Catcher Technology Corp (可成), Far Eastern International Bank (遠東銀) and Largan Precision Co (大立光).
“The index is intended as a benchmark to guide institutional and retail investors as they look to invest in companies with a top ranking,” Schive said.
The main criteria for selecting the 99 companies include profit per employee and turnover rate. Companies with turnover rates of 1 percent or lower are not selected, the exchange said.
The 99 constituent firms employed a total of 599,000 personnel this month, up 1 percent from a year ago, the exchange said.
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