When workers are owners
The received wisdom that employee ownership is a good thing comes with caveats
IT IS popular to lament the growing gap between capitalists and workers. In one respect, however, the gap is shrinking: the number of workers who own shares in the business that employs them has never been higher. America leads the way: 32m Americans own stock in their companies through pension and profit-sharing plans, and share-ownership and share-option schemes. The idea continues to gain momentum. Hillary Clinton’s recent speeches suggest that she may make it an important plank in her plans to reform capitalism. And worker-capitalists are also on the march in Europe and Asia.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “When workers are owners”
From the August 22nd 2015 edition
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