Investors in these companies are not affected in the same way as employees, as investors and stock owners have the ability to diversify their investments, and they often have diversification of investments and protection from the government if they declare bankruptcy, but the employee does not have all these procedures that may protect his job, and his income may be directly affected if this happens. It has nothing to do with his total dependence on the job and the lack of a surplus, not to mention the spiral of debt that he will enter if he has not already entered into it.
Poor economic conditions affect employees more than shareholders.
Employees often have the opportunity to become shareholders in the company they work for. Yes, this requires raising funds, but if you are tying your future to a particular organization, it is worth it. Employee turnover often depends on the economic situation, but by becoming a shareholder, you can protect yourself from being laid off.
There are two ways of this, and they are very different things. First of all, you could be a simple apple worker, making a bit more than the minimum wage, save some money, and then buy shares of it on the market, there is nothing against that and you can do that which is allowed and you would own the shares of your own company that you work in.
However, that's not the good one, the good one is that you could do such a great job that they would pay you a salary +shares, I worked in a place before where the general manager was so great that they gave him 2% of the company for being the general manager, he didn't take a salary, but he was making more than anyone I have ever seen.