New data has revealed the disparity in fortunes between the wealthiest and poorest people throughout the cost-of-living crisis.
According to official figures, the top 1% of employees have seen their earnings increase by more than 16% since the peak of the Covid epidemic.
Meanwhile, since July 2020, the increase for the poorest 10% has been only 10%.
The disparity highlights how workers in some industries have been able to keep ahead of rising inflation by taking advantage of a rush to hire and retain employees, while others are feeling the pinch.
One cause for the disparity, according to the Office for National Statistics, is large bonuses in financial services.
According to data released this week, normal salaries, excluding bonuses, fell by the yearly equivalent of 4.5 percent in April, the worst drop since records began in January 2001.
Even when bonuses are included in, real earnings fell by 3.7 percent.
However, according to the ONS, the percentage of growth for financial and business services workers was 10.6% in the three months to April, significantly above inflation.
Manufacturing had a similar result of 4.3 percent, while the public sector as a whole – which fared better during the Covid crisis – had only 1.5 percent.
‘Stronger bonus payments have been noted in total pay since August 2021, particularly in March 2022, when the non-seasonally adjusted bonus payment was extraordinarily high,’ according to the ONS.
As a result, the single-month growth rate in March 2022 was extremely high, and it continues to have a significant impact on the three-month growth rate. The banking and business services industry has the highest bonus payouts, but bonuses are strong across the board for April 2022.’
According to the most recent PAYE employee numbers, the top 1% has seen their incomes increase by 16 percent since July 2020, from £12,370 to £14,376 per month.
The top 5%’s earnings have increased by over 13% to £6,753.
The proportion for the bottom half of the income distribution is little under 13%, while the figure for the bottom 10% is 10%, or £688 a month.
According to PAYE statistics, median monthly salary climbed by 5.4 percent in May compared to the previous year.
However, earnings in the wholesale and retail sector grew by 7.8%, while earnings in the arts and entertainment sector grew by just 0.1 percent.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported this week that there were 1.3 million vacant positions in the three months to May, although payrolls increased by 90,000 from April to a record high of 29.6 million last month.
Meanwhile, unemployment fell to 3.8 percent in the first quarter of this year, and inactivity decreased slightly, albeit it remains higher than pre-pandemic levels.