Wealth inequality has widened, economist warns
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused the wealth gap to widen, with women and young people expected to bear the brunt, a British economist has warned.
Speaking at the P2P Investing Summit, a virtual event hosted by Peer2Peer Finance News and AngelNews, economist Vicky Pryce, author of Women vs Capitalism, said that the UK will be exiting this pandemic with rising wealth inequality.
“What we’ve found is that the people who have been able to keep their jobs are the ones who have been earning more,” Pryce said.
“The richer you are the more likely you are to have kept your job.
Read more: P2P stakeholders highlight strong risk-adjusted returns
“So we’re exiting this pandemic with a lot of wealth inequality.
“Working from home has become a big issue and the truth is that the more you earn the more you are able to have tasks that you can do from home.”
Pryce pointed towards a recent IFS survey of UK workers which found that just 15.9 per cent of the least wealthy were able to work entirely from home. By comparison, 35.3 per cent of the wealthiest workers were able to work remotely.
Read more: Industry stakeholders call for a personal guarantee register
She also noted statistics from the London School of Economics which found that more than 10 per cent of those aged 16-25 were impacted by job losses during the pandemic. People aged between 56 and 65 suffered the second highest rate of job losses, with just under five per cent being made redundant.
“Across the OECD there have been job losses and the young have suffered more,” Pryce added. “There’s a lot of inequality.”
Read more: Over 70pc of savers are not confident enough to invest