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According to new analysis, the typical worker in the UK would need 52 years' worth of income to achieve the financial standing of the wealthiest 10% of the population.

Expanding Wealth Gap Over Time

The analysis analyzed wealth distribution data including the Covid pandemic period and determined that during the pre-financial crisis era, it would have taken nearly four decades of typical employment income to enter the top 10th of the wealth distribution.

A research lead associated with the study commented: "Financial divides in Britain are now so large that a regular employee saving all their earnings during their working years would still not be able to achieve the peak of the economic scale."

Assessing the Financial Disparity

The study found that the gap between the assets of the typical individual and someone in the top 10% was £1m in the mid-2000s, but had widened to £1.3m in inflation-adjusted terms by recent times.

The economist continued: "These disparities are particularly worrying as financial progression in Britain is low – individuals who begin life well-off tend to continue being rich, and the opposite holds true."

Relative Wealth Inequality

Despite the wealth gap widening in absolute terms, the percentage of complete net worth in the UK held by the most affluent homes – termed "proportional economic disparity" – has been "broadly stable since the eighties," per the analysis.

Over this timeframe, total wealth in the UK rose substantially from thrice the annual GDP, to approximately 7.5x.

Factors of Economic Disparity

Termed "unearned" increases, by means of growing real estate costs and changes in pension valuations, were the primary factors of the growing financial disparity from 2010 onward, per the analysis.

These increases typically went to older, property-owning households, the study demonstrates – intensifying the intergenerational wealth divide.

Age-Based Financial Divides

The typical financial disparity between individuals aged 30-34 and those in their early 60s more than doubled in actual value, from £135k in the mid-2000s, to £310,000.

Geographic Disparities

Furthermore, the study revealed pronounced regional variations, with the typical amount of assets in recent years reaching 290 thousand pounds in south-east England, where property prices have generally grown substantially, compared with £110k in the northeastern region.

COVID Era Effects

Amid the health crisis, when millions of workers were supported by the taxpayer-backed furlough scheme, and Covid shutdowns limited opportunities for spending, the information reveals many households were able to save, growing their net worth.

More affluent homes fared much better, nevertheless. "The median home in the bottom income bracket saw their cash reserves increase by just £80 over the pandemic period (2019-20 to 2021-22), broadly the same as the pre-crisis period. In contrast, the average household in the highest income quintile saw their cash reserves rise by £4,200," the report finds.