Top earners hit hardest by economic downturns, low wage workers unaffected.
The study looked at how wages and income change during good and bad economic times in the UK from 1991 to 2008. They found that people with higher incomes have more changes in their earnings during recessions than those with lower incomes. In contrast, people with lower wages and incomes don't see much change in their earnings during economic ups and downs. Instead, they tend to move in and out of unemployment as the economy changes.