The analysis – which EY conducted on behalf of the Employee-Owned S Corporations of America (ESCA) – examines trends in S ESOP retirement plans from 2002 through 2019, including S ESOP plans’ net asset value, number of participants, average account balances, and distributions to participants.
EY’s key findings include:
- S ESOP assets and participants grew significantly since the beginning of the millennium, and assets grew faster than participants, leading to higher assets per participant.
- S ESOP employee-owners saw returns at rates higher than the stock market.
- S ESOPs distributions to employee-owners, typically when they retire, totaled more than $77 billion from 2002-2019.
- An individual employee-owner participating in an S ESOP gets nearly $26,000 each year as an added benefit. This figure takes into account firm contributions, increased job security, and growth in S ESOP assets.