The standout numbers in the research are about wealth and wages for ESOP participants, with an important caveat about how few workers currently have access.
ESOP participants build more wealth and earn more. A 2017 study from the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO) and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation found that ESOP participants have 92% higher median net wealth and 33% higher wages. (Source: National Center for Employee Ownership and W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2017.)
A precision note worth keeping: these figures describe ESOP participants in that specific 2017 study, not all employee-owners across every structure. They are a strong signal, not a universal guarantee.
The catch is how few people this reaches. Despite those outcomes, employee ownership is still rare. Certified Employee-Owned reports that just 1% of the labor force currently participates in private-company ESOPs. (Source: Certified Employee-Owned.) The wealth-building benefit is real but, for now, narrowly available.
Why engaged ownership matters to the numbers. The flip side of an engaged, owning workforce is the cost of a disengaged one. Drawing on workplace engagement research, Certified Employee-Owned cites a figure of up to 18% of salary costs lost to disengaged employees in reduced productivity each year. (Source: Certified Employee-Owned, citing workplace engagement research.) That is a measure of the cost of disengagement, not a return attributed to ownership itself, but it helps explain why structures that give employees a genuine stake and voice can pay off.
The takeaway: where employees participate in ownership, particularly through ESOPs, the wealth and wage data is encouraging, even though access remains limited today.