Working classes and millionaires hit by recession

Official figures have revealed that both the super rich and the working classes have been badly affected by the recession. Financial and economic analyst Experian has produced a report which says that it is the lower skilled workers who will bear the brunt of the recession, particularly in the West midlands and northern England.

The report warned of job losses for those working in the low skilled sectors, especially in areas where traditional manufacturing industries still dominate the local economy. Economic recovery is expected to occur initially in the historically more affluent London and south eastern areas, although growth will be at a much slower rate than we have seen in the past two decades.

With the current situation looking bleak for low skilled workers in industrial areas, another report has highlighted the fall of the super rich during the recession. Since 2007, the number of millionaires across the UK has fallen by over 50 per cent as the decline of the housing market has hit wealthy property developers. Those working in the city have also seen their personal fortunes reduced as city bonuses were scaled back by a massive 70 per cent following public outrage at the high bonuses proposed for top employees of failing banks.

The Centre of Economics and Business Research (CEBR) revealed that the number of millionaires peaked in 2007 at almost half a million, whereas currently there are only 242,000 millionaires in the UK. This fall is evident across the retail sector as sales of luxury items such as Bentley’s and expensive jewellery. However, the CEBR was confident that the number of millionaires would creep back up during 2011 as the property market improves.