Increase in wealth ‘stopped after 2008’

The average wage-earner is 62 per cent better off than 25 years ago – but worse off than four years ago, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.

Data produced by the organisation has revealed that when inflation is taken into account, the best-paid have seen remuneration more than double, while the worst paid have had real-terms increases of 70 per cent.

Wage inequality grew between 1986 and 1998 but has fallen since then, with those at the bottom the obvious beneficiaries of the National Minimum Wage.

However, those who are struggling with debt may be all too aware that recent years have been harder and the ONS confirmed that the last four years have been in contrast with the previous 21 as wages have not kept up with prices.

A survey published by Zurich this week revealed 45 per cent of Britons are kept awake at night by money worries, more than in the other seven European countries where consumers were polled.

By James Francis