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Based on new analysis, the typical worker in the UK would require 52 years' worth of income to attain the wealth level of the richest 10% in the country.

Expanding Financial Divide Through the Years

This research reviewed net worth data covering the 2020-22 timeframe and determined that in 2006-08, it would have needed 38 years of median full-time earnings to join the richest segment of the financial hierarchy.

A senior economist involved with the study observed: "Economic disparities in Britain are presently so substantial that a average worker accumulating their complete salary during their working years would continue to be incapable to reach the top of the economic scale."

Measuring the Economic Gap

The analysis found that the disparity between the wealth of the typical individual and someone in the top 10% was £1m in the mid-2000s, but had increased to £1.3 million in actual value by the pandemic years.

The researcher continued: "These differences are especially alarming as economic movement in Britain is low – those who commence life affluent tend to stay wealthy, and conversely applies."

Relative Wealth Inequality

Despite the financial disparity widening in actual numbers, the percentage of complete net worth in the UK held by the most affluent homes – known as "comparative financial divide" – has been "largely unchanged since the eighties," as stated in the study.

Over this timeframe, complete net worth in the UK surged from three times the gross domestic product, to nearly seven and a half times.

Factors of Economic Disparity

Termed "automatic" increases, through rising house prices and adjustments to pension valuations, were the key contributors of the expanding economic divide since 2010, according to the study.

These increases typically went to senior citizens with real estate, the research shows – worsening the age-based economic gap.

Generational Wealth Disparities

The typical financial disparity between individuals aged 30-34 and those in their early 60s increased over twofold in actual value, from 135 thousand pounds in 2006-08, to 310 thousand pounds.

Regional Variations

There were also pronounced regional variations, with the median value of wealth in the pandemic period standing at £290k in the SE of England, where property prices have tended to rise rapidly, compared with £110k in the NE of England.

Health Crisis Years Impact

Throughout the COVID period, when numerous employees were protected by the taxpayer-backed furlough scheme, and health crisis restrictions curtailed consumption options, the data shows numerous families were able to save, growing their net worth.

Higher-income households achieved superior outcomes, however. "The median home in the lowest-income quintile saw their liquid savings rise by merely £80 throughout the health crisis (from 2019 to 2022), approximately equivalent to the two years pre-pandemic. Conversely, the average household in the top income bracket saw their liquid savings increase by £4,200," the analysis concludes.