Wealth Gap Between Classes

Financial distinctions like savings, investments and property assets are increasing in importance as key class differentiators and new research reveals a £104,000 wealth gap between the middle and working classes.

A 'Middle Britain' report for financial society Liverpool Victoria revealed 53 per cent of the population say they are working class and one in four Britons now sees themselves as middle class - a rise of 44 per cent since 1966.

Despite working class disposable incomes rising considerably in the last 20 years there is a growing wealth gap between working and middle class workers.

The average middle class full-time worker earns a quarter more annually than their working class counterpart - £25,485 compared with £20,553.

This is also affected by age as for those aged up to 24 the average working class income is 16 per cent higher than their middle class equivalent but beyond the age of 45, the middle classes earn 54 per cent more than their working class counterparts.

"The wealth gap between the classes is significant and may be compounded by the shorter-term attitude to saving and slightly higher debt burden of the working classes," said Nigel Snell from Liverpool Victoria.

"Saving regularly for the future is something that we should all be doing more of and we would encourage everyone to try to put something by, if only a little and often, to help build up a nest egg for the future."