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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

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