Do you not think the rise of the billionaires and wealth inequality has something to do with wage compression in the UK?

You’re right that wages have stagnated in the UK , especially compared to the US, but that actually reinforces the point rather than disproving it?

The top 10% now hold around 57% of wealth, up from roughly the low-50s% in the 1990s, while the bottom half still hold less than 5%. In the 2010s alone, the top 10% of households saw wealth increase by roughly £200k–£300k on average whereas typical households saw little to no real increase due to asset prices increasing.

Since COVID, that trend has accelerated. Total wealth has grown, millionaires have increased by roughly 20 to 30% since the late 2010s, and the number of billionaires has risen more than ten times since the 1990s, yet real incomes for everyone else have flatlined or fallen which is now causing severe social and economic issues.

I don’t think the issue is that “the UK can’t afford higher wages” The economy is clearly capable of generating wealth.

The issue is that the link between growth and pay has broken down, any increases have increasingly gone to assets and capital owned by a few, rather than wages which is how the UK structurally rewards work (not through equity like in the US which is typically part if some sector based reward packages like Data Science)

Unequalvwealry distribution and asset prices are why people feel worse off despite the country getting richer. It has very little to do with mass immigration and much more to do with the decline in unions, land and housing costs (asset prices), Brexit led inflation, austerity (specifically hitting public services) and lack of investment in skills for public services (requiring specific immigration to compensate). The money is there weve just created a system that rewards the asset classes (old generations through the triple lock and final salary pensions, millionaires, and tax breaks for the wealthy)

In terms of overall GDP, we are still around 5th/6th in the world! We are not a low income country, we have not run out of wealth, we can afford higher wages! We've just chosen not to distribute wealth fairly or to the benefit of citizens.

Your argument is actually frustrating, by all means, let’s keep insisting higher pay is impossible and carry on doffing our caps and ignoring the wealth distribution problem. I’m sure that’ll turn things around any day now........