While that is true of course, there must have been something to it, otherwise the Germans wouldn't have come up with the term. The word may have come in use because the employers would wear this kind of hat to work, while the employees would wear other headwear, like soft felt hats or more commonly caps (for manual labourers). The hat style for workers in other professions would more likely be the bowler. My idea is that a lot of the homburgs survive because they were used as "sunday hats". What better way to show respectability than to wear a hat the boss would wear, but would be too expensive to wear every day. That certainly seems to be the case here in Holland, where the men would put on their sunday best, put on their best hat and go to church. Which would also explain why black is the most common colour, being austere enough for church (someone once termed that as "protestant chromophobia"). The "Wörterbuch der deutschen Umgangssprache" (dictionary of common language) gives as an explanation: "Herrenhut mit breiter steifer Krempe; schwarzer Herrenhut; besonders wertvoller Hut. Klassenkämpferische Bezeichnung seit 1920" (men's hat with wide stiff brim; black man's hat; especially valuable hat. Class-struggle name since 1920). The term seems to have been used idiomatic as well; I found a few references where "an den Arbeitgeberhut gekommen" means to have made it. Who would have thought it?The only problem with this is that almost all hats look like Homburgs if you go back to 1920s. You also had lower price point hats that share style.