People aged 50 and above (50+) accounted for 31% of the working age population in 2021 (those aged 16-64), 30% of those in work and 23% of the unemployed.
Of the 1.9m IT specialists based in the UK in 2021, just 22% (413,000) were aged 50 or above and if representation in IT were equal to the workforce 'norm' there would have been an additional 148,000 IT specialists in the UK aged 50 or above or 561,000 in total.
Across the UK, representation of older people in IT positions was lowest in the North East where just 17% were aged 50 and above over the 2017-21 period.
Representation of ‘older’ workers varied from around one in eight (13%) programmers/ developers to one in three IT directors and project/programme managers (33% and 30% respectively).
In 2021 there were estimated to be around 13,000 unemployed IT specialists in the UK aged 50 and over equating to an unemployment rate of 3.1% more than double the rate for IT specialists aged 16-49 (1.5%).
Older IT specialist were more likely to be working on a self-employed basis than their younger counterparts (10% versus 6%) and were also more likely to be working part-time (8% versus 5%).
IT specialists aged 50+ were also more likely than others to be working in micro business sites (18% compared with 14% of those in younger age groups during 2021).
The median hourly earnings for older IT specialists in 2021 was £25 per hour - 14% more than that for IT specialists as a whole.
Older IT specialists are notably more likely to hold ‘responsible positions’ – almost half (45%) having managerial/supervisory status in their job (compared with 39% of younger IT specialists).
Older IT specialists are less likely to have an HE qualification and in 2021 only 64% of those aged 50 and had a qualification at this level compared with 74% of those aged 16-49.
Younger IT specialists are also much more likely to hold an IT degree than those aged 50 and above (12% versus 9% during 2021).
Older IT specialists are notably more likely to obtain employment through in-work connections, and much less likely to do so via direct applications than their younger counterparts.
