The United Kingdom is one of the world’s most unequal societies, with a poorer record than Ireland, Germany, Japan or Canada, and the legacy left by Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s has not been reversed – despite a decade of increased public spending by the Labour Party, according to a major analysis.
The top 10 per cent richest households have a total wealth, including property and pensions, that is 100 times greater than those in the bottom tenth, while one-in-ten of those living in local authority on the edge of retirement have assets worth less than £3,000 – little more than the furniture in their homes, and the clothes they wear.
The independent report by the National Equality Panel, which was commissioned by the British government’s Equalities Office, found that there are still “deep-seated and systematic” economic inequalities – but the differences between rich and poor members of the same ethnic groups are now more significant than between immigrants and longer-term inhabitants.
In the 1960s, the higher brackets of British society had three times the income of those at the bottom, though this widened to four-to-one during the Thatcher era – a proportion that has not been reduced significantly despite 12 years of a Labour government.
However, the analysis does highlight some significant shifts, showing that women up to the age of 44 are now better qualified than men.
Women of all ages are paid 21 per cent less than men – but the gap is smaller at just six per cent between men and women in their twenties, though the gap widens again once both sexes enter their thirties.
“Within four years of graduation, nearly twice as many men have earnings over £30,000 as women. It is sometimes assumed that wages tend to grow with age and experience. However, hourly wages for women are highest for those in their early thirties, and lower for each subsequent age group,” said the academics, adding that only women in State jobs tend to enjoy significant wage rises after 30.
A larger proportion of Chinese, Indian and black African minority ethnic groups are better educated than their white British counterparts, yet ‘despite this they are less likely to be in paid employment than white British men and woman. Nearly of all Pakistani and Bangladeshi women do not work outside of the home.
On average, Indian Hindu and Sikh men, and Black Caribbean Christian men have roughly similar wages to white British Christian men; while male Jews earn 24 per cent more, but, Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslim men and Black African Christian men suffer a ‘pay penalty’, earning 13-21 per cent less than white British Christian men.
However, the National Equality Panel does point out that the gap between the children of migrants and white British are smaller than for their parents, and the differences between ethnic minorities and whites as a whole are smaller than they were a decade ago.
Rejecting charges that the report highlighted failings, Equality Minister, Harriet Harman said, instead, it showed how difficult it was to counter social disadvantage, and that it must be tackled by government actions ‘that last not just for a parliament, but for generations’.