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Based on recent analysis, the average earner in the UK would have to work over five decades of salary to achieve the wealth level of the wealthiest 10% of the population.

Widening Financial Divide Over Time

This research analyzed net worth data from the Covid pandemic period and determined that in the mid-2000s, it would have needed nearly four decades of median full-time earnings to enter the wealthiest decile of the financial hierarchy.

A senior economist involved with the report commented: "Financial divides in Britain are now so large that a regular employee setting aside their entire income throughout their career would continue to be incapable to achieve the peak of the economic scale."

Assessing the Wealth Divide

The analysis revealed that the difference between the wealth of the average person and an individual in the wealthiest decile was £1 million in the mid-2000s, but had expanded to 1.3 million pounds in actual value by 2020-22.

The economist further stated: "These gaps are particularly worrying as economic movement in Britain is low – people that start life affluent tend to remain affluent, and the opposite holds true."

Comparative Financial Divide

Even with the economic divide expanding in actual numbers, the percentage of complete net worth in the UK owned by the wealthiest families – termed "relative wealth inequality" – has been "mostly consistent since the 1980s era," as stated in the analysis.

During this period, total wealth in the UK increased dramatically from triple the yearly economic output, to almost 7.5 times.

Drivers of Financial Divide

Termed "unearned" gains, by means of rising house prices and variations in retirement fund assessments, were the key contributors of the widening wealth gap over the past decade, as stated in the analysis.

These increases generally flowed to older, property-owning households, the study demonstrates – worsening the generational financial disparity.

Generational Wealth Disparities

The median economic difference between people in their early 30s and sixty-somethings grew by more than 100% in real terms, from 135 thousand pounds in 2006-08, to £310k.

Regional Disparities

Additionally, there were pronounced regional variations, with the typical amount of wealth in recent years reaching £290,000 in south-east England, where housing costs have tended to rise rapidly, compared with £110k in the NE of England.

Pandemic Period Effects

Throughout the COVID period, when countless laborers were protected by the public-funded employment protection, and health crisis restrictions limited opportunities for spending, the information reveals many households were capable of accumulating, growing their net worth.

More affluent homes fared much better, though. "The typical family in the bottom income bracket saw their available funds increase by just £80 over the pandemic period (from 2019 to 2022), approximately equivalent to the two years pre-pandemic. In contrast, the average household in the highest income quintile saw their liquid savings increase by £4,200," the study reveals.