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COVID-19 to expose wealth gap among Brits: research

Wealth inequality remains almost twice as high as income inequality

wealth gap

COVID-19 to expose wealth gap among Brits: research. Source: shutterstock.com

According to LearnBonds, the wealth gap between the richest and poorest households grew by over £370,000 between 2006 to 2018, hitting £1.4 million.

Wealth gaps across the UK have also increased. For instance, London and the South East account for 38% of all wealth in 2016-18, compared to 32% in 2006-08.

At the same time, lower-income households are twice as likely as rich households to increase their debt during the pandemic.

The report states that a typical worker in a shut-down sector of the economy had average savings of just £1,900. That’s far less than the average savings of someone who has been able to work remotely during the lockdown.

Meanwhile, 24% of poorer workers are worried about making ends meet if they lost those jobs for a month, compared to 17% among those working from home.

Pre-coronavirus Britain was marked by soaring wealth and damaging wealth gaps between households. These wealth divides have been exposed by the crisis. While higher-income households have built up their savings, many lower-income households have run theirs down and had to turn to high-interest credit
George Bangham, Resolution Foundation economist

We’ve reported that due to the fact that markets recover amid the COVID-19 pandemic, US billionaires expanded their wealth by over $406 billion.

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