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According to new study, the median worker in the UK would have to work over five decades of salary to achieve the net worth of the most affluent 10% in the country.

Growing Economic Disparity Through the Years

The study reviewed wealth distribution information from the 2020-22 timeframe and found that back in the pre-financial crisis era, it would have needed 38 years of median full-time earnings to enter the top 10th of the wealth distribution.

A research lead associated with the analysis commented: "Financial divides in Britain are presently so substantial that a typical full-time employee setting aside their entire income throughout their career would remain unable to attain the highest level of the financial hierarchy."

Measuring the Wealth Divide

The analysis discovered that the difference between the assets of the typical individual and an individual in the wealthiest decile was £1m in the mid-2000s, but had expanded to £1.3m in actual value by the pandemic years.

The economist continued: "These disparities are especially alarming as economic movement in Britain is low – people that start life well-off tend to continue being rich, and conversely applies."

Comparative Financial Divide

Despite the economic divide expanding in specific figures, the share of complete net worth in the UK owned by the wealthiest families – known as "relative wealth inequality" – has been "largely unchanged since the 1980s era," as stated in the analysis.

Throughout these years, overall assets in the UK rose substantially from three times the gross domestic product, to almost 7.5 times.

Contributors of Financial Divide

Termed "unearned" appreciation, via growing real estate costs and adjustments to retirement fund assessments, were the main drivers of the expanding economic divide since 2010, as stated in the analysis.

These gains tended to accrue to older, property-owning households, the study demonstrates – exacerbating the age-based economic gap.

Generational Wealth Disparities

The typical financial disparity between thirty-somethings and those in their early 60s increased over twofold in real terms, from 135 thousand pounds in 2006-08, to 310 thousand pounds.

Geographic Differences

There were also pronounced regional variations, with the median value of assets in 2020-22 amounting to £290,000 in south-east England, where property prices have generally grown substantially, compared with £110,000 in the northeastern region.

Pandemic Period Effects

During the pandemic, when millions of workers were covered under the government-supported job retention program, and pandemic lockdowns reduced expenditure possibilities, the statistics indicate numerous families were able to save, enhancing their financial standing.

Higher-income households fared much better, however. "The average household in the bottom income bracket saw their available funds grow by only eighty pounds during the COVID years (2019-20 to 2021-22), approximately equivalent to the pre-crisis period. Conversely, the median home in the top income bracket saw their available funds increase by £4,200," the report finds.