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Per recent analysis, the average earner in the UK would require over five decades of earnings to attain the net worth of the wealthiest 10% of the population.

Growing Economic Disparity Across Decades

This research analyzed financial assets statistics from the Covid pandemic period and discovered that during 2006-08, it would have required nearly four decades of typical employment income to join the wealthiest decile of the wealth distribution.

A research lead involved with the study stated: "Economic disparities in Britain are currently so significant that a regular employee saving all their earnings during their working years would remain unable to attain the highest level of the economic scale."

Quantifying the Economic Gap

The study found that the disparity between the net worth of the typical individual and someone in the wealthiest decile was £1m in the pre-crisis period, but had widened to 1.3 million pounds in inflation-adjusted terms by the pandemic years.

The researcher added: "These differences are particularly worrying as wealth mobility in Britain is restricted – people that start life affluent tend to stay wealthy, and conversely applies."

Relative Wealth Inequality

Even with the financial disparity growing in specific figures, the portion of overall assets in the UK held by the wealthiest families – known as "comparative financial divide" – has been "largely unchanged since the 1980s," according to the research.

Over this timeframe, overall assets in the UK surged from three times the annual GDP, to approximately 7.5x.

Drivers of Economic Disparity

So-called "automatic" gains, via increasing property values and variations in pension valuations, were the key contributors of the widening wealth gap since 2010, per the report.

These appreciations tended to accrue to senior citizens with real estate, the analysis reveals – worsening the generational financial disparity.

Age-Based Economic Gaps

The typical financial disparity between thirty-somethings and people aged 60-64 more than doubled in inflation-adjusted terms, from £135,000 in pre-financial crisis, to £310k.

Regional Variations

Additionally, there were pronounced geographic differences, with the average level of assets in recent years amounting to £290k in the SE of England, where real estate values have typically increased quickly, as opposed to £110,000 in the NE of England.

Health Crisis Years Effects

Amid the health crisis, when millions of workers were covered under the government-supported job retention program, and Covid shutdowns reduced expenditure possibilities, the data shows numerous families were in a position to set aside money, enhancing their financial standing.

Wealthier families fared much better, however. "The typical family in the lowest-income quintile saw their liquid savings rise by merely £80 over the pandemic period (from 2019 to 2022), roughly identical to the 24 months before COVID. On the other hand, the median home in the wealthiest fifth saw their cash reserves rise by £4,200," the report finds.