Increasing use of AI may force employers to recognise the value of silver experience (see earlier story). But is it simultaneously blocking the progress of 50-plus jobseekers? That is the question raised by a column in the New Statesman. With recruitment processes increasingly being automated and delegated to AI”, writes Catherine Foot, “workers in their fifties and sixties are increasingly reporting suspicions that they are being sifted out on the grounds of age. This would be illegal under the Equality Act and warrants further investigation”. Quoting a recent estimate that upping employment of 50 to 64 year olds by only one percentage point could inject £5.7bn into the UK’s GDP each year and add £800m to the public purse through extra tax revenues, she lists policies needed to make that possible. They include ensuring managers have the skills to adapt more roles to flexible working. “It seems unlikely that we will see a step change in over-50s employment until more employers embrace reality: not all the talented workers they need can work our now century-old definition of full-time hours. Managers must have the job design skills to adapt more roles to different working patterns.”
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