Per fresh research, the typical employee in the UK would require 52 years' worth of earnings to reach the financial standing of the richest 10% in the country.
The analysis examined net worth data covering the Covid pandemic period and determined that during 2006-08, it would have needed 38 years' worth of typical employment income to join the top 10th of the wealth distribution.
A senior economist involved with the study stated: "Wealth gaps in Britain are currently so significant that a average worker setting aside their entire income across their entire working life would still not be able to attain the highest level of the economic scale."
The study revealed that the difference between the wealth of the average person and someone in the wealthiest decile was £1m in the mid-2000s, but had expanded to £1.3 million in real terms by the pandemic years.
The analyst further stated: "These differences are doubly concerning as wealth mobility in Britain is restricted – people that start life affluent tend to stay wealthy, and vice versa."
Despite the financial disparity expanding in specific figures, the share of total wealth in the UK possessed by the wealthiest families – called "proportional economic disparity" – has been "broadly stable since the eighties," as stated in the study.
During this period, complete net worth in the UK rose substantially from thrice the gross domestic product, to approximately 7.5x.
Termed "automatic" increases, through growing real estate costs and variations in pension valuations, were the key contributors of the widening wealth gap over the past decade, as stated in the analysis.
These appreciations typically went to older, property-owning households, the research shows – intensifying the generational financial disparity.
The median economic difference between individuals aged 30-34 and those in their early 60s increased over twofold in actual value, from £135,000 in 2006-08, to £310,000.
There were also stark geographic differences, with the average level of assets in recent years amounting to £290,000 in the southeastern region, where real estate values have generally grown substantially, versus £110,000 in the north-east.
Throughout the COVID period, when countless laborers were supported by the taxpayer-backed furlough scheme, and health crisis restrictions reduced expenditure possibilities, the data shows many households were in a position to set aside money, growing their net worth.
Wealthier families achieved superior outcomes, though. "The average household in the lowest-income quintile saw their liquid savings grow by only eighty pounds during the COVID years (from 2019 to 2022), broadly the same as the pre-crisis period. In contrast, the average household in the wealthiest fifth saw their available funds increase by £4,200," the analysis concludes.
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