The Wealth Gap Survey

How much of a difference does your upbringing make to your life? It’s a question that’s been debated for ages and, in a world with a greater focus on equity, the wealth gap within society is under the microscope.

There has always been a wealth divide in society, but this has become more pertinent than ever in the face of stagnant wage growth, increasing inflation and rising house prices making home ownership seem less and less likely for young people wanting to buy their own home. It has sparked inter-generational conflict with different age groups pitted against each other over who is (or was) better off.

There has always been a wealth divide in society, but this has become more pertinent than ever…

Just how likely is it that someone could climb up the social ladder?

To get to grips with the depth of feeling on the wealth divide in society, the home loan experts at Compare the Market Australia surveyed more than 3,000 adults across Australia, Canada and the USA, asking them questions about their social class, money habits, upbringing and home ownership.

Join us as we explore the results.

In this article:

• Australian working class more upwardly mobile than Americans and Canadians
• Less than half the population receive education from parents about money
• Are people confident enough to teach future generations about finance?
• How do people handle their money?
• How many people received pocket money growing up?
• Home ownership more a dream than a reality for young adults

What is social class?

Social class is a somewhat nebulous term referring to wealth, status and asset ownership. It is generally understood that upper class refers to business and company owners or upper management, while middle class refers to middle management, and working class refers to lower-level employees – though this division will not fit every individual or their circumstances.

In our survey, we left this term largely undefined so that survey respondents would pick what they understood applies to them.

Australian working class more upwardly mobile than Americans and Canadians

Comparing the social class respondents said they grew up in to where they are today, the middle class saw a big increase and the working class saw a decrease across all three countries as respondents moved up the social ladder.

Australia’s biggest increase was people moving from working to middle class. Of those who said they grew up working class, 38.9% had moved up and were now middle class. In Canada it was lower at 32.8%, and the USA had the lowest amount of upward mobility for the working class at 28.3%.

Interestingly, the data shows that those born with a silver spoon can have it taken away, as a considerable number of people who grew up in the upper class now identified as middle class.

In Canada, almost half of those born upper class now were middle class (43.4%), while in America this was the case for 37.5% of those born upper class. Australia saw the least amount of upper class people stepping down a rung on the social ladder, but it was still a considerable amount at 33.3%.

Read the rest of this piece at ComparetheMarket.

James McCay studied creative and professional writing at QUT. He hopes to make a positive difference for readers through his writing.

Photo: courtesy ComparetheMarket.