The growing divide in wealth inequality in the United States is well documented. Research has shown employee ownership helps narrow the wealth inequality gap, including for women and people of color.

• As an investor in an employee-owned structure, you are helping to address and fight the rising wealth inequality gap through creation and support of employee owners.
• Employee ownership addresses wealth inequality through promotion of employee and family asset building. Asset building, or the collective set of resources held that can be leveraged or invested for economic stability and well-being, is essential to long-term upwards mobility.
• Employee ownership is a research proven method of driving higher levels of income, wealth, and benefits as compared to non-employee- owners. In a relative peer analysis, a 2017 study found that ESOP owned as compared to non-employee:
  • 92% higher median household net wealth
  • 33% higher median income from wages
  • 53% longer median job tenure

Asset building through ESOPs
Employee-owned firms promote five specific elements that work in tandem to enable workforce asset building:

• Building ESOP account equity and financial knowledge
• Expanding workforce capabilities through on the job training, external education, and internal mentoring
• Enabling asset preservation and personal investments
• Increasing access and inclusion by gender, race, and ethnicity
• Improving health and well-being through quality of work-life experience and balance