Hard Times: Financial wellbeing among low and middle earners

Authors: Andrea Finney, David Hayes and Yvette Hartfree
Funded by: Trades Union Congress
Published by: University of Bristol
Publication date: August 2015

This research draws on quantitative analysis of the Wealth and Assets Survey. It provides a detailed picture of the financial wellbeing of low and middle earners in relation to their overall wealth, liquidity, savings (including pension savings), indebtedness and use of consumer credit.

The survey data (wave 2 of the Wealth and Assets Survey) were collected between 2008 and 2010 and so represent the financial circumstances of working age people at a time when the UK had fallen into recession, unemployment was rising and average earnings were falling. The data precede the austerity measures taken by the Coalition Government to reduce public spending.

The research focuses on people of working age and excludes those who have never worked or who have been long-term unemployed. Working-age adults are grouped into three earnings categories based on earnings data recorded in wave 1 of the survey in 2006-08: low earners who had a mean annual earned income of £7,300 in 2006-08; middle earners who had a mean annual earned income of £14,800; and high earners who had a mean annual earned income of £27,000.

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Hard Times: Financial wellbeing among low and middle earners (PDF, 2,581kB)

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What makes the wealthy wealthy? The composition of wealth across the wealth distribution and its determinants

Authors: Andrea Finney
Funded by: Trades Union Congress
Published by: University of Bristol
Publication date: August 2015

As part of our suite of analysis of the 2008-10 Wealth and Assets Survey examining financial wellbeing in Great Britain, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) asked us to explore who the wealthy are and what their wealth is composed of. In doing so, the analysis described in our report explores how the nature of wealth varies depending on how much wealth a household has, and whether wealthy and super-wealthy households are represented by a broad cross-section of people or a particular type (or types) of person. Wealthy households are defined as the wealthiest 10 per cent of households, and the super wealthy are defined as the wealthiest 1 per cent of households represented by the Wealth and Assets Survey.

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What makes the wealthy wealthy? (PDF, 936kB)

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