What is Workers' Capital?

Workers’ capital refers to the assets accumulated in collectively funded schemes in order to provide workers with financial security in their retirement.

According to the Watson Wyatt Global Investment Review (2002), workers’ retirement savings and pension funds total more than USD 11 trillion globally at that time.

It has been estimated that pension fund holdings account for about one-third of the world’s total share capital – and significantly more in some countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States.

• More on workers' capital

• Long & short-term challenges

• The workers' capital toolbox

• The role of the CWC

Key reference documents on workers capital

• Working Capital: Institutional Investment Strategy, by the Trade Union Congress (TUC, UK).

• Workers’ capital and corporate social responsibility
  

• What is Capital Stewardship?, by the AFL-CIO (USA).

• The New Colossus: The New Politics of Capital, an article on the power of U.S. public sector pension funds by William Greider in published in The Nation, 24 February 2005.