TOWARDS THE MANIFESTOS – RESEARCH SHOWS SUBSTANTIAL SHIFT IN UK WEALTH TO NATIONAL EARNINGS RATIO

by: Inclusive Growth Contributor | on: 22.05.23 | in: Uncategorised

House of Commons Library Research on the shift in UK wealth to national earnings ratio

By House of Commons Library Research

Between 2010 and 2021, the average wealth of an individual in the top 1% of the richest in Britain has risen by £1,670,121 – that is thirty-one times the increase in the average wealth of the bottom 99%, which has risen by just £53,409.

Overall wealth in Britain has risen by over £4 trillion between 2010 and 2021. An incredible
one quarter of that wealth (23%) – nearly £1 trillion (£977 billion) has gone to the top 1%.

The top 1% has increased its share of overall wealth:

Both household wealth and labour income have increased substantially in past decades, but the wealth-to-income ratios show wealth has increased at a faster pace.

The chart below shows that household net wealth – as defined as housing plus net financial worth – was around 4 times that of labour income in the late 1950s, falling slightly in the 1970s before rising sharply in the 1980s and then again from the mid-1990s. In 2021 the wealth-to-labour income ratio stood at around 10:1:

See text of briefing for more detail on data sources

Sources: Library calculations based on ONS, National Balance Sheet 1995-2021, and Thomas and Nolan (ONS, 2016)