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Shareholder Power and Workers’ Labor Market Outcomes

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Abstract

Public corporations account for about half of private employment in the United States.1 These large corporations have undergone radical changes in their ownership structure over the past several decades.2 Figure 1 illustrates the changes—total block institutional ownership, defined as the total share of equity owned by all institutional investors that own at least 5% of the shares for public firms, on average increased fourfold from 1980 to 2023. As a result, the block institutional shareholders, on average, held over 20% of the equity shares of U.S. public corporations by the end of the period. In parallel, figure 1 (panel B) shows that the labor share, as measured by the ratio of total compensation for employees to output, exhibited a declining trend.

Suggested Citation

  • Hyunseob Kim, 2025. "Shareholder Power and Workers’ Labor Market Outcomes," Chicago Fed Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue 505, pages 1-6, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedhle:99931
    DOI: 10.21033/cfl-2025-505
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    Keywords

    Labor and demographic economics;

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution

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