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According to new research, the typical employee in the UK would require over five decades of income to attain the net worth of the richest 10% of the population.

Expanding Wealth Gap Through the Years

This research examined net worth information from the Covid pandemic period and found that back in 2006-08, it would have needed 38 years' worth of average worker salary to enter the richest segment of the wealth distribution.

A senior economist part of the analysis commented: "Financial divides in Britain are currently so significant that a typical full-time employee setting aside their entire income during their working years would remain unable to reach the top of the financial hierarchy."

Assessing the Financial Disparity

The research discovered that the gap between the net worth of the median citizen and a person belonging to the wealthiest decile was £1m in the pre-crisis period, but had increased to £1.3m in actual value by the pandemic years.

The economist continued: "These gaps are especially alarming as financial progression in Britain is limited – people that start life well-off tend to stay wealthy, and the opposite holds true."

Comparative Financial Divide

Although the economic divide widening in absolute terms, the percentage of total wealth in the UK possessed by the wealthiest families – termed "comparative financial divide" – has been "broadly stable since the 1980s," as stated in the research.

Throughout these years, overall assets in the UK increased dramatically from triple the gross domestic product, to approximately 7.5x.

Contributors of Economic Disparity

So-called "automatic" increases, by means of rising house prices and changes in retirement fund assessments, were the primary factors of the expanding economic divide from 2010 onward, per the report.

These gains tended to accrue to senior citizens with real estate, the study demonstrates – intensifying the age-based economic gap.

Intergenerational Wealth Disparities

The average wealth gap between thirty-somethings and those in their early 60s more than doubled in inflation-adjusted terms, from £135,000 in pre-financial crisis, to £310,000.

Geographic Disparities

There were also pronounced geographic differences, with the average level of net worth in recent years standing at 290 thousand pounds in south-east England, where housing costs have tended to rise rapidly, versus 110 thousand pounds in the NE of England.

Health Crisis Years Effects

Throughout the COVID period, when countless laborers were covered under the public-funded employment protection, and pandemic lockdowns limited opportunities for spending, the information reveals numerous families were in a position to set aside money, enhancing their financial standing.

Wealthier families fared much better, though. "The typical family in the poorest fifth saw their liquid savings increase by just £80 during the COVID years (from 2019 to 2022), approximately equivalent to the two years pre-pandemic. In contrast, the median home in the highest income quintile saw their liquid savings increase by £4,200," the study reveals.