New Data on Employee Ownership and Economic Well-Being

The National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS), sponsored by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, are nationally representative surveys that follow the same sample of individuals from specific birth cohorts over time. Our research uses data from a sample first interviewed in 1997 and biennially ongoing.

Comparing currently employed respondents overall who have an ESOP to those who do not:

Their median job tenure is 3 years longer than those without (8.5 vs. 5.5 years).
Their median income from wages is 23% higher ($65,000 vs. $53,000).
Their median net household wealth is 45% higher ($66,800 vs. $46,000).

The content of the survey covers nearly every aspect of the labor market experience of workers, including wages, income, wealth, and benefits. The panel nature of the surveys allows for following respondents over time; e.g., their wages, wealth, and jobs are followed as each respondent moves toward retirement age.

NCEO executive director Loren Rodgers spoke on the new research findings, commenting, “Since it relies on such high-quality data, people interested in employee ownership will cite these findings for years. Documenting the size of the employee ownership advantage using this new round of data from the National Longitudinal Surveys extends the prior work on this dataset by the NCEO research team, and the result both reinforces and deepens the findings from prior years.”

“The value of longitudinal research on Employee Stock Ownership Plans and the outcomes for participants cannot be overstated, particularly when it provides clear comparisons to non-ESOP employees,” wrote Jim Bonham, President of the Employee Ownership Foundation (EOF). The Foundation provided initial funding to initiate the study. “On behalf of the EOF and our leadership, I want to congratulate Nancy Wiefek and the NCEO for determined perseverance in bringing this study forward. It was a difficult task but the findings were well worth the wait.”

All the respondents were ages 36 to 42 when interviewed most recently in 2021. A snapshot of the latest interviews shows the patterns of the ESOP advantage for these workers we found in our previous work continues.

Our project started in 2013, when the workers in the sample were aged 28 to 34. This large-scale project was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

With initial funding from the Employee Ownership Foundation and our own research funds, the NCEO has continued this work and been able to identify and track ESOP workers back over each wave of interviews. When the next interviews are available in late 2025, we will have the potential to follow ESOP participants through up to 20 years of their work lives.