How Widespread is Employee Ownership?

According to the 2022 U.S. General Social Survey, approximately 18% of employed adults say they have some form of ownership stake in the company where they work. Employee share ownership reaches tens of millions of workers, but it takes several different forms. About 15.2 million individuals participate in Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) in the United States, retirement plans designed to provide broad-based ownership across the workforce. In addition, an estimated 14-15 million employees receive some form of equity compensation—such as stock grants, stock options, or employee stock purchase plans—but these programs are often more selective and concentrated among certain roles, higher-paid, or more educated employees.   Estimates from the U.S. Federation of Workers Cooperatives and Democracy at Work Institute suggest that up to 16,000 workers are employed in worker cooperatives and similar workplaces nationally.

ESOPs are the most common broad-based employee ownership model in the United States.

According to Rutgers Institute analysis, as of 2023, there were 6,339 ESOP plans (including 5,940 in private companies and 399 in publicly traded companies). These plans collectively hold over $2 trillion in assets and cover approximately 15.2 million individuals.

In 2023 alone, 309 new ESOPs were formed, adding 56,663 additional employee participants, according to the National Center for Employee Ownership.

Employee ownership can be structured in several ways.
The most common U.S. model is the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), a retirement-plan structure that holds company shares on behalf of employees. Other models include worker cooperatives, where employees directly own and govern the firm, and Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs), where a trust holds shares for the benefit of employees. Many companies also offer equity compensation programs—such as stock options, stock grants, or employee stock purchase plans—that can give workers a financial stake in the firm when they are designed to include the general workforce.

Employee ownership exists in many countries, although the forms it takes vary. The United States has the largest number of ESOP companies, while worker cooperatives are especially prominent in countries such as Spain, Italy, and France. Many parts of the world have cooperative traditions, from South Africa to Argentina to South Korea.

The United Kingdom has recently seen rapid growth in Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs). These variations reflect different legal frameworks and policy supports, but globally there is growing interest in models that allow workers to share in the wealth they help create.  In Europe, a new hybrid EOT-ESOP model which combines a trust with individual capital accounts has been spearheaded in Slovenia. Globally, equity ownership is common among employees of global corporations.