A UK thinktank says lower-income families will have to wait 137 years to double their living standards at the current slow income growth rate. The Resolution Foundation highlights two decades of stagnant disposable incomes causing a “mood of unease” across the country. They warn of "further political disruption" if pay growth does not speed up. Between 1965 and 2005, typical disposable income for working-age families in the poorest half of the UK doubled, growing at an average of 1.8% annually after adjusting for inflation. Especially in the final decade of that period, incomes grew about 4% per year, on track to double within 18 years. Since 2005, things changed drastically. Disposable income growth in lower-income families has slowed to just 0.5% per year. The thinktank said, “If progress continues to crawl in the way it has since the mid-2000s, a further doubling would take over 130 years.” The Resolution Foundation defines lower-income families as working-age households with incomes below the national median and no members over state pension age. This group includes about 13 million families and is called “unsung Britain” by the thinktank. Despite higher workforce participation and unpaid care for disabled adults since the 1990s, income and living standards gains have been limited. Ruth Curtice, Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation, said: "The 13 million working-age families across the poorest half of the country are widely courted by politicians. But despite working harder, they have seen their disposable incomes stagnate, as they grapple with shrinking pay rises, higher costs and a growing struggle with their health and care needs." The slowdown is mainly due to pay rises fading. Average gross annual earnings for those in lower-income families rose from the mid-1990s to today by £7,700 to £18,000. But nearly 75% of this increase happened before 2005. Steep cuts to working-age benefits have also hurt living standards. Nearly one in three working-age adults in lower-income families have a disability, compared to fewer than one in five in richer households. Around 1 million people in this group provide over 35 hours a week of unpaid care to adult relatives or friends. While better-off families also face income stagnation, taxes take a smaller share of poorer households’ budgets — 12% compared to 31% in wealthier ones. However, council tax hits the poorest hardest, costing them four times as much as a share of income compared to the richest families.