28 – Personnel Expenses and Employees Personnel expenses The BASF Group’s expenses for wages and salaries, social security contributions and pensions and assistance in 2020 totaled €10,576 million (2019: €10,924 million). This amount included proportional personnel expenses for 2020 from the disposal group for the construction chemicals business in the amount of €291 million. In 2019, personnel expenses from the disposal groups for the construction chemicals business and proportionally for the oil and gas business totaled €557 million. The decrease in personnel expenses was primarily due to lower bonus provisions and the lower average number of employees which resulted, in particular, from the divestiture of the construction chemicals business. A higher wage and salary level as well as higher pension expenses because of increased service costs had an offsetting effect. (XLSX:) XLS Personnel expenses (Million €) 2020 2019 Wages and salaries 8,416 8,825 Social security contributions and assistance expenses 1,424 1,545 Pension expenses 736 554 Personnel expenses 10,576 10,924 Number of employees As of December 31, 2020, the number of employees decreased to 110,302 employees compared with 117,628 employees as of December 31, 2019. The decrease was due primarily to the sale of the construction chemicals business, which affected around 7,500 employees. An offsetting factor was the acquisition of Solvay’s polyamide business due to which the BASF Group’s number of employees rose by around 1,200 people – including the employees of the Butachimie SNC and Alsachimie S.A.S. joint operations, both in Chalampé, France – which were counted on a pro rata basis. As of December 31, 2020, a total of 1,137 employees (2019: 96 employees) worked at joint operations. The rise was mainly due to additions related to the aforementioned acquisition of Solvay’s polyamide business. The development of the number of employees was distributed over the regions as follows: (XLSX:) XLS Number of employees as of December 31 2020 2019 Europe 68,849 72,153 of which Germany 51,961 54,028 North America 16,948 19,355 Asia Pacific 17,753 18,634 South America, Africa, Middle East 6,752 7,486 BASF Group 110,302 117,628 of which apprentices and trainees 3,120 3,161 temporary staff 2,128 2,606 The average number of employees was distributed over the regions as follows: (XLSX:) XLS Average number of employees 2020 2019 Europe 71,329 73,126 of which Germany 53,080 54,722 North America 18,599 19,624 Asia Pacific 18,719 18,843 South America, Africa, Middle East 7,326 7,607 BASF Group 115,973 119,200 of which apprentices and trainees 2,821 2,811 temporary staff 2,518 2,922 Employees from joint operations are included in the average number of employees relative to BASF’s share in the company. On average, these had a total of 1,055 employees (2019: 206 employees). The BASF Group’s average number of employees for 2020 included 5,400 employees from the disposal group for the construction chemicals business (2019: 6,801 employees). back next