Employee-Owned Companies Spur Economic Growth and Create Jobs

January 17, 2013

Home News Employee-Owned Companies Spur Economic Growth and Create Jobs

Across the country, employee-owned companies are spurring economic growth and creating jobs. These companies continue to grow, compared to the general private sector, even during the current economic struggles.

In a 2008 study from the University of Pennsylvania, two leading tax and economic experts Steven F. Freeman and Michael Knoll found that S-ESOP companies generate some 85,000 new jobs each year that would not have existed otherwise. These jobs have a significant impact on economic activity in their respective communities, while also increasing the number of hardworking American’s savings for retirement. Specifically, the study found that these added jobs generate a collective $19 billion in economic activity that would otherwise not exist.

In recent years, we have seen direct evidence for the findings in the University of Pennsylvania study. One such example comes from HNTB, an employee-owned architecture, engineering, planning and construction firm.

HNTB is serving as the owners representative for the replacement Gerald Desmond Cable-Stayed Bridge in Long Beach, California, a huge, $1 billion design-build project. Construction on the bridge began earlier this week. The Department of Transportation has made significant investments in the project believing that the bridge’s construction will not only improve infrastructure in the region but also spur incredible financial growth.  Experts examining the project believe it will generate 3,000 new construction jobs each year for the next five years and create more than $2 billion in economic activity for the southern California region.

ESCA wants to congratulate HNTB for its direct role in generating this significant economic growth. It is companies like HNTB that demonstrate the true growing power and success of employee-owned companies.

Tracing its heritage to 1914, HNTB has grown to be an impressive force in the infrastructure industry. It is currently one the 100 largest majority employee-owned companies in the U.S.

Latest News