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Based on fresh analysis, the typical employee in the UK would have to work half a century of salary to attain the net worth of the richest 10% of the population.

Widening Financial Divide Across Decades

This research reviewed financial assets data covering the recent health crisis years and determined that in the pre-financial crisis era, it would have required nearly four decades of median full-time earnings to enter the richest segment of the economic ladder.

A senior economist involved with the analysis observed: "Economic disparities in Britain are currently so significant that a regular employee setting aside their entire income during their working years would still not be able to achieve the peak of the economic scale."

Quantifying the Financial Disparity

The research discovered that the difference between the assets of the average person and a person belonging to the wealthiest decile was £1 million in the pre-crisis period, but had widened to 1.3 million pounds in real terms by the pandemic years.

The researcher continued: "These gaps are especially alarming as financial progression in Britain is restricted – people that start life well-off tend to continue being rich, and the opposite holds true."

Comparative Financial Divide

Even with the financial disparity expanding in actual numbers, the share of total wealth in the UK owned by the wealthiest families – known as "relative wealth inequality" – has been "broadly stable since the 1980s," per the study.

Over this timeframe, total wealth in the UK surged from three times the yearly economic output, to almost 7.5 times.

Drivers of Wealth Inequality

Referred to as "unearned" appreciation, via growing real estate costs and adjustments to retirement fund assessments, were the main drivers of the expanding economic divide since 2010, per the report.

These appreciations generally flowed to older, property-owning households, the research shows – worsening the generational financial disparity.

Age-Based Wealth Disparities

The average wealth gap between people in their early 30s and sixty-somethings grew by more than 100% in inflation-adjusted terms, from £135,000 in pre-financial crisis, to £310,000.

Geographic Differences

There were also stark regional variations, with the typical amount of wealth in 2020-22 standing at £290k in the SE of England, where real estate values have generally grown substantially, compared with 110 thousand pounds in the north-east.

Pandemic Period Consequences

Amid the health crisis, when countless laborers were supported by the public-funded employment protection, and health crisis restrictions curtailed consumption options, the statistics indicate many households were in a position to set aside money, enhancing their financial standing.

Higher-income households fared much better, though. "The average household in the bottom income bracket saw their cash reserves grow by only eighty pounds during the COVID years (from 2019 to 2022), roughly identical to the 24 months before COVID. On the other hand, the average household in the top income bracket saw their liquid savings rise by £4,200," the study reveals.