Hills report

A comprehensive report out today charts the divided state of the nation. Harriet Harman calls it an ‘inequality bible’. Here, Tom Clark uses its data to tell you ....

Top 1%, the sky’s the limit

Top 1%, the sky’s the limit
Stephen Hester Pension alone

What you get... ... and what you’re worth

Chief executive £16 million
of RBS
Fred Goodwin
Basic salary
former boss of RBS
£1.2m

£2,574,327
Professional

Still the second sex Towards pink parity Class divide £40,987 Race and religion Home truths The gap that’s too small

£99,360
Median earnings for woman initially rise Civil partnerships were introduced in It is four decades since an aristocratic Families in the white majority are typically Familiar north-south differences in the Wealth inequality between the generations is
like those of men, but after age 30 they late 2005, and the pay penalty that men John Cleese towered above middle-class twice as rich as those in most minority cost of a house are reflected in median no bad thing – it is what you would expect if
start to decline, while men continue to in same-sex couples suffer when Ronnie Barker, who in turn dwarfed the ethnic groups. And when it comes to household wealth the old have saved for retirement. But the
climb the career ladder until well into compared to “similar” men in straight proletarian Ronnie Corbett. But the religion, huge wealth differences mean two-and-a-half-fold gap in the average net
their forties couples has declined over this time continuing gulf between the median followers of some faiths can enjoy a reward worth of 40- and 60-year olds is far less
pay of different classes ensures that on this Earth, while others have to wait for important than the near 50-fold gap that
each continues to “know its place” the ever-after separates relatively-affluent and relatively-
2003-05
hard-up at age 60
£422k Jewish
£29,886

£416,120
Senior finance
manager
£90,000
Men

Scotland
8.4% £150,629 Old have two-and-a-half
Property value
less
£23,782

times more than young

Supervisory £2,000,000
£19,955

or technical 8,100-acre Camusrory

£22,452 Estate in the Highlands

£79,639

£287,801
Routine occupations

£1,851,423
Women £18,188 Airline pilot
£73,281 £229k Sikh
£223k Christian Yorkshire and
White £221k
2006-08 the Humber
£15,649

Indian £204k £206k Hindu

£172,727

£69,576
£11,134 £11,256

£174,876
£161k Other religion
MP
£64,766
£138k No religious West Midlands
1.5% affiliation
£187,664

£1,549,649
£62,764
less
Pakistani £97k

Black Caribbean £76k

£57,928
South East
Salaried GP
£55,790 Other Asian £50k
£287,892

£1,365,273
£42k Muslim
Age 16-19

£54,548
Pension alone
Black African £21k
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65-69

Bangladeshi £15k
£1,293,000

£52,000
35-44 45-54 55-64 Career police inspector
at point of retirement

£49,868

£1,219,350
£47,788
90% of full-time
employees earn
£46,488

House value
Income: Pen’s parade of dwarves and giants less than £46,488 The wealth parade How the rich were reined in - then broke free £1,100,000

£1,118,559
£45,032

The Dutch economist, Jan Pen, The chart here shows how Pen’s parade The wealth parade, as opposed to the Share of total income going to the richest 1% of people Garden maisonette in
£43,888

proposed visualising the spread of would look in contemporary Britain. Pharmacist income procession, measures all Notting Hill
£42,640

incomes as an hour-long parade through Note it is incomplete in two respects, it people’s worldly possessions – not just 1937
£39,807

£1,033,355
12.57%
£41,652

a town, where the height of each concentrates solely on people in what they have coming in. And as the 12%
£40,664

individual corresponded to their salary. full-time work, and so disregards the chart shows, the numbers this time are
£39,884

The first 40 minutes or so would near-half of people who are part-timers, far bigger – running into millions for the 2000 Pension alone
10.03%
£38,948

£955,000
witness a parade of dwarves, since the self employed or reliant on benefits, the well-to-do – and so is the economic gap. 10% £939,000
£38,116

skewed spread of incomes towards the last group including most of the On this measure, every household in the
£37,440

Primary teacher MP leaving Parliament

£36,816

affluent few ensures that most people poorest. And at the very top end, the richest tenth has at least 100 times more

£899,893
£33,743 after 25 years
£36,088

are below the average. After that, a fair chart cannot stretch far enough to show than the families in the poorest.
£35,464

8%
few people of average stature would the richest people of all. But even with
£34,840

10% of families

£853,099
£34,216

pass by, and then a few more who were these caveats, the gap recorded is big — To see where you fit in, you need to tot own more than
£33,540

somewhat on the tall side. But in the with incomes for all of the richest tenth your savings (minus your debt) and also
£33,072

£810,955
Nurse 6% £853,099
£32,500

last couple of minutes great giants being four times or more those of the your cars, fridges, TVs and the rest. For
£29,431
£31,980
£31,616

would emerge, and during the last few poorest. Take the chance to see where those lucky enough to own one, you

£768,049
£31,148

Pension alone
£30,680

seconds their heights might be you measure up against the giants and then need to add in the value of your
£30,264

£621,000

£733,266
£29,744

4%
measured in miles. the dwarfs house – after docking off any mortgage
£29,224

Army corporal
Company manager on
£28,756

still owed to the bank. But even more 1976

£25,882

£697,550
£28,288
£27,872

£60k, ten years to go

important, for many people, is the 4.17%
£27,508

Painter and decorator

£668,422
£27,092

pension pot. On the chart we have 2%

£26,676

£22,224
£26,468
£26,052

£635,200
placed the value of illustrative pensions
£25,740
£25,428
£25,116

for people in various jobs. Even taken

£24,752

£608,178
£24,388

Traffic warden
£24,024

on its own, a decent pension pot is often 0%

£584,805
£23,660

£20,827
£23,296

enough to push a man or woman of a

£22,984

1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

£563,486
£22,620
£22,360

certain age well up the distribution.

£22,048

£542,335
£21,684

The 100 bars on this chart each Hospital porter

£21,424

£522,722
£21,112
£20,800

represent 1% of full-time wage earners £18,348

£20,540

£503,330
Much of the wealth gap is right at the
£20,176
£19,968

£487,198
£19,708
£19,448

top, the holdings of the top 1% being

£474,700
Pension alone House value
£19,136
£18,928

£460,519
£18,668

Fitness Instructor
£18,460

more than £2.6m - which is why their

£189,000 £245,750
£18,200

£444,141
£17,940
£17,680

£15,236 bar on the main chart simply soars

£17,420

£427,599
£17,212
£16,900

£414,553
Mid-career classroom London average
£16,640

upward off the page. The figure to the

£16,432

£403,046
£16,172
£15,964

teacher

£389,000
£15,756

Hairdresser right illustrates how the pay of Britain’s

£15,496
£15,288

£376,448
£15,028

£364,834
£12,402 runaway rich was reined in after the
£14,768
£14,456

£353,062
£14,196

House value

£342,026
£13,884

War, but once again tore loose from the

£13,624

£331,020
£13,364

£169,000
£13,104

£321,014
1980s. Their newfound income has now
£12,792

£311,997
£12,480

£302,666
£12,168

translated into extraordinary wealth

£294,350
£11,804

All UK average

£285,918
£11,492

£276,810
£11,024

£267,995
£10,556

£257,971
£250,369
£9,932

£241,800
Lifetime savings House value

£233,673
£225,878
£8,996

£16,000 £118,400

£218,722
£211,500
£204,500
£197,739
The 100 bars on this
£7,800

£190,319
Maximum allowed by Yorkshire average

£182,728
£176,000
£169,710
chart each represent

£162,608
housing benefit rules

£155,730
£149,365
1% of households

£142,785
£5,668

£135,907
£129,655
£66,320

£123,400
£61,384

£117,200
£56,321

£110,339
£50,642
£46,611

£104,083
£42,717

£97,245
£39,171
£35,505

£90,964
£31,800
£28,620

£85,011
£25,900
£24,305

£79,034
£21,136
£18,201
£10,750
£12,871
£14,600
£15,120
£16,312

£73,452
-£3,844
£1,421
£2,388
£2,550
£3,130
£4,503
£6,273
£7,341
£7,765
£8,817

% 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 % 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
Poorest Richest Poorest SOURCES: NATIONAL EQUALITY PANEL, ONS, LFS, OECD, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS, HALIFAX. PENSION ESTIMATES: JETHRO GREEN. ADDITIONAL ANALYSIS: SIMON ROGERS. GRAPHIC: PAUL SCRUTON, MICHAEL ROBINSON Richest