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Employee Ownership, Employment, and Work-from-Home in the Covid-19 Shock to the US Job Market

Author

Listed:
  • Huanan Xu
  • Joseph R. Blasi
  • Douglas L. Kruse
  • Richard B. Freeman

Abstract

To what extent, if at all, did employee-owned (EO) firms maintain jobs for workers compared to non-EO firms in the spring 2020 Covid-19 shock to the US economy? Did EO firms shift jobs from workplaces to work-from-home locations in the pandemic more or less than other firms? This paper uses a unique survey of nearly 750 firms that differ in the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) mode of employee ownership to answer these questions. The analysis finds that in the Covid crisis ESOPs with majority ownership of their firm maintained proportionately more jobs and shifted work to workers’ homes more than other firms and that these differences scale with the ESOP percentage of firm ownership. The findings are consistent with a model of firm decision-making in which ESOP firms weigh the well-being of employee-owners as workers in the firm in a job crisis while non-ESOP firms view workers solely as a costly input in production in maximizing the income of their (non-employee) owners.

Suggested Citation

  • Huanan Xu & Joseph R. Blasi & Douglas L. Kruse & Richard B. Freeman, 2024. "Employee Ownership, Employment, and Work-from-Home in the Covid-19 Shock to the US Job Market," NBER Working Papers 33310, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33310
    Note: EH IO LS PR
    as

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations
    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • J4 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets
    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
    • M5 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics
    • P13 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Cooperative Enterprises
    • P5 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems

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