According to a new study, pensioner households are £20 better off per week than those of working age. Pensioners earn more than the working population.

Analysis by the Resolution Foundation for the Intergenerational Commission shows that the rise in pensioners who still work, own houses and receive generous pensions has coincided with low income growth for working age households.

The figures contrast with research conducted in 2001, when pensioner households earned £70 less each week than those working.

Although there remains a large gap between the wealthiest and poorest pensioners with the bottom fifth relying solely on benefits, 73% of pensioners now own their homes, up from 64% 16 years ago.

Also on the rise are the number of pensioners in employment; one in five pensioner families now have one or more person in work.

Most influential however, is the dramatic increase in private pension incomes and public benefits.

Meanwhile, millennials are suffering lower income growth, falling home ownership rates and limited access to defined benefit pension schemes.

Adam Corlett, an economic analyst at the Resolution Foundation warns of the reality for future pensioners.

‘We can’t assume either that young people today will be able to draw upon the kind of wealth that recent pensioners have accumulated, given the recent fall in home ownership and decline in generous defined benefit schemes.

‘The big challenge we face as a society is to ensure that the record incomes that a new generation of pensioners are enjoying are not a one-off gift, and can endure for future generations too.’

What do you think about the fact that pensioners earn more than the working population?