Fair Share

Structural inequity has created stark wealth divides along racial and gender lines—divides that have only worsened during the pandemic. White households have roughly 10 times the wealth of Black households, and households headed by single women have less than 40 percent of the wealth of those headed by single men. This limits critical opportunities like home ownership, entrepreneurship, education, and retirement savings. Employee share ownership, which allows workers to hold shares or buy shares in their company, has an important role to play in correcting these inequities and giving workers a chance to meaningfully participate in the economy. The Economic Opportunities Program held a virtual event—“Can Employee Share Ownership Improve Racial and Gender Wealth Equity?”—that brought a dynamic lineup to the Institute, including Ayanna Banks, Susan Hoop, and Julie Bertani-Kiser from Recology; Janet Boguslaw from the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at Rutgers University; Todd Leverette from the Democracy at Work Institute; Kimberly Adams from Marketplace; and opening speaker Natalie Abatemarco from Citi Community Investing and Development. The event was part of the program’s ongoing Opportunity in America series, which examines economic opportunity in the US and the implications it has for people and communities across the country.

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