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According to new study, the typical worker in the UK would require 52 years' worth of earnings to reach the net worth of the wealthiest 10% of the population.

Expanding Wealth Gap Through the Years

The study reviewed net worth statistics covering the recent health crisis years and discovered that back in 2006-08, it would have required 38 years' worth of average worker salary to enter the wealthiest decile of the financial hierarchy.

An economic expert part of the study commented: "Wealth gaps in Britain are now so large that a typical full-time employee saving all their earnings during their working years would remain unable to achieve the peak of the wealth ladder."

Quantifying the Financial Disparity

The study discovered that the disparity between the assets of the typical individual and an individual in the wealthiest decile was £1 million in 2006-08, but had increased to £1.3 million in real terms by the pandemic years.

The analyst further stated: "These disparities are doubly concerning as financial progression in Britain is limited – individuals who begin life affluent tend to remain affluent, and the opposite holds true."

Relative Wealth Inequality

Despite the financial disparity growing in actual numbers, the share of total wealth in the UK held by the richest households – called "comparative financial divide" – has been "mostly consistent since the eighties," according to the study.

Throughout these years, total wealth in the UK increased dramatically from three times the gross domestic product, to nearly seven and a half times.

Factors of Financial Divide

Referred to as "passive" increases, by means of increasing property values and changes in superannuation evaluations, were the key contributors of the widening wealth gap from 2010 onward, according to the report.

These increases tended to accrue to senior citizens with real estate, the study demonstrates – worsening the age-based economic gap.

Generational Financial Divides

The median economic difference between thirty-somethings and people aged 60-64 grew by more than 100% in real terms, from £135k in 2006-08, to £310,000.

Regional Disparities

Additionally, there were pronounced regional variations, with the median value of wealth in the pandemic period reaching £290k in the southeastern region, where real estate values have generally grown substantially, as opposed to 110 thousand pounds in the NE of England.

Health Crisis Years Effects

During the pandemic, when numerous employees were covered under the taxpayer-backed furlough scheme, and Covid shutdowns limited opportunities for spending, the statistics indicate numerous families were capable of accumulating, growing their net worth.

More affluent homes performed significantly better, though. "The median home in the poorest fifth saw their liquid savings grow by only eighty pounds throughout the health crisis (2019-20 to 2021-22), broadly the same as the two years pre-pandemic. In contrast, the median home in the top income bracket saw their liquid savings grow by 4,200 pounds," the analysis concludes.