Rich Aussies get richer

RICH Australians are getting richer quicker, and it’s not because of their wages.

The incomes of the nation’s top 20 per cent wealthiest households are growing 50 per cent faster than average households, and their net worth is rising at twice the pace.

Wealth specialists say the rise reflects growing investments rather than wage income, and they expect the gap between the haves and havenots to widen further.

Between 2010 and 2016 the average weekly income for a so-called “highest quintile” household rose 12 per cent to $5036 a week, an analysis of Bureau of Statistics data has found. Other households’ income climbed 7-8 per cent, apart from an 11 per cent rise for the bottom 20 per cent thanks to increasing welfare payments. The net worth of the richest jumped 15 per cent to $2.91 million, while the poorest 20 per cent rose just 0.6 per cent to $36,500.