EARNINGS: Security at Sears

In the Chicago office of Sears, Roebuck & Co., an employee gives workers the latest market price of the company’s stock three times a day. Employees follow the ups & downs of the stock as eagerly as they follow prizefights or baseball games. There is a good reason for their interest: Sears workers own the biggest block of Sears stock.

Last week, Sears gave out the latest figures on employee ownership. Some 96,000 employees own 4,502,523 shares (19%) of Sears stock, all of it bought through the company’s profit-sharing plan. Since 1916, when Sears, Roebuck first set up the plan, it has matched the workers’ annual 5% contributions with a percentage of the company’s profits. The company’s payment for 1947 totaled $18,848,363. Total worth of stock and cash in the fund: $216.5 million.

Sears also gave some case histories of how the fund pays off. A clerical worker who had deposited $4,798 in the fund, over 33 years, retired last year at 60 and withdrew $70,591. A merchandiser, who had deposited $7,530, withdrew $134,423 in cash and stock.