🔗 Share this article

Per recent research, the median earner in the UK would require half a century of earnings to attain the net worth of the richest 10% in the country.

Growing Economic Disparity Across Decades

The analysis reviewed financial assets data including the recent health crisis years and found that during 2006-08, it would have needed nearly four decades of average worker salary to reach the top 10th of the wealth distribution.

A senior economist associated with the study observed: "Financial divides in Britain are now so large that a average worker saving all their earnings throughout their career would continue to be incapable to attain the highest level of the economic scale."

Assessing the Financial Disparity

The research discovered that the difference between the assets of the average person and someone in the wealthiest decile was £1 million in the pre-crisis period, but had increased to £1.3m in inflation-adjusted terms by 2020-22.

The economist added: "These gaps are particularly worrying as economic movement in Britain is restricted – people that start life well-off tend to continue being rich, and conversely applies."

Comparative Financial Divide

Even with the wealth gap expanding in absolute terms, the share of total wealth in the UK held by the wealthiest families – termed "comparative financial divide" – has been "mostly consistent since the 1980s," as stated in the research.

Throughout these years, total wealth in the UK increased dramatically from triple the yearly economic output, to nearly seven and a half times.

Factors of Economic Disparity

Termed "passive" increases, via growing real estate costs and adjustments to retirement fund assessments, were the primary factors of the expanding economic divide since 2010, per the report.

These appreciations generally flowed to senior citizens with real estate, the study demonstrates – exacerbating the age-based economic gap.

Age-Based Wealth Disparities

The median economic difference between individuals aged 30-34 and sixty-somethings increased over twofold in actual value, from £135k in the mid-2000s, to £310k.

Geographic Disparities

There were also significant regional variations, with the typical amount of assets in recent years reaching £290k in the southeastern region, where housing costs have tended to rise rapidly, compared with 110 thousand pounds in the north-east.

Pandemic Period Impact

During the pandemic, when countless laborers were covered under the government-supported job retention program, and health crisis restrictions limited opportunities for spending, the data shows countless homes were in a position to set aside money, enhancing their financial standing.

Wealthier families fared much better, though. "The median home in the poorest fifth saw their cash reserves grow by only eighty pounds during the COVID years (from 2019 to 2022), roughly identical to the two years pre-pandemic. In contrast, the average household in the highest income quintile saw their available funds increase by £4,200," the report finds.