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Based on recent research, the average employee in the UK would require over five decades of earnings to attain the net worth of the most affluent 10% of the population.

Expanding Wealth Gap Across Decades

The study examined net worth data from the 2020-22 timeframe and determined that back in the mid-2000s, it would have required 38 years of median full-time earnings to join the top 10th of the financial hierarchy.

A senior economist associated with the analysis observed: "Financial divides in Britain are now so large that a typical full-time employee accumulating their complete salary across their entire working life would continue to be incapable to achieve the peak of the economic scale."

Quantifying the Financial Disparity

The research found that the disparity between the assets of the average person and a person belonging to the top 10% was £1m in the pre-crisis period, but had increased to 1.3 million pounds in real terms by 2020-22.

The researcher added: "These disparities are doubly concerning as economic movement in Britain is limited – those who commence life wealthy tend to stay wealthy, and the opposite holds true."

Proportional Economic Disparity

Even with the economic divide growing in actual numbers, the portion of total wealth in the UK owned by the wealthiest families – termed "relative wealth inequality" – has been "broadly stable since the 1980s," according to the study.

During this period, complete net worth in the UK rose substantially from triple the annual GDP, to approximately 7.5x.

Factors of Economic Disparity

So-called "passive" appreciation, by means of growing real estate costs and variations in pension valuations, were the primary factors of the expanding economic divide since 2010, per the study.

These gains generally flowed to senior citizens with real estate, the study demonstrates – worsening the generational financial disparity.

Generational Financial Divides

The typical financial disparity between people in their early 30s and those in their early 60s increased over twofold in inflation-adjusted terms, from £135,000 in the mid-2000s, to 310 thousand pounds.

Area-Based Disparities

Additionally, there were significant area-based disparities, with the average level of assets in 2020-22 reaching £290,000 in the SE of England, where real estate values have generally grown substantially, as opposed to 110 thousand pounds in the NE of England.

Pandemic Period Impact

Amid the health crisis, when numerous employees were supported by the taxpayer-backed furlough scheme, and health crisis restrictions limited opportunities for spending, the statistics indicate countless homes were capable of accumulating, increasing their wealth.

Higher-income households performed significantly better, however. "The average household in the poorest fifth saw their liquid savings rise by merely £80 throughout the health crisis (from 2019 to 2022), approximately equivalent to the 24 months before COVID. On the other hand, the average household in the top income bracket saw their cash reserves increase by £4,200," the analysis concludes.