Employment

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Over 2 million people are employed in the manufacturing of tobacco products, two thirds of whom are working in China, Indonesia and India. Some people see tobacco control efforts as impacting on tobacco jobs, yet the main source of impact on people‟s jobs is the technological advances in both manufacturing and farming, which allow for a lower number of employees. Yet in hindsight job losses from a reduction in consumption of tobacco are thought to be fairly small.

Tobacco companies which often merge also often own other large industries and run varieties of joint ventures. Japan tobacco, which is half owned by the Japanese government, also markets Reynolds American cigarette brands such as Winston, Camel and Salem outside the US market. Japan tobacco also owns food, beverage and pharmaceutical companies throughout Asia. Japan tobacco is the third biggest tobacco company by global sales and the fourth biggest company by market share.