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Living standards
·
Incomes
·
Inequality & poverty

Missing Out

25 July 2011

Matthew Whittaker
Matthew Whittaker

Workers in the bottom half of the earnings distribution have seen their fortunes decline significantly in the last thirty years. In the Resolution Foundation’s second report to the Commission on Living Standards Matthew Whittaker and Lee Savage explore who is receiving the fruits of growth and who is Missing Out. 

 

Key findings

In the last 30 years of each £100 of GDP:

• only £12 is paid as wages to the bottom half of earners, down from £16 in 1977

• £14 is paid to the top 10% of earners – more than the whole of the bottom half

• £3 is paid to the top 1% of earners, up from £2 in 1977

Further reading

The good, the bad and the messy
Responding to the Pathways to Work Green Paper consultation
30 June 2025
·
Louise Murphy
The bare necessities
Unpacking the rising cost of essentials for low-to-middle income Britain
30 June 2025
·
Simon Pittaway, Lalitha Try
The Living Standards Outlook 2025
26 June 2025
·
Adam Corlett
Matthew Whittaker
Matthew Whittaker
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