People aged 50 and above (50+) accounted for 31% of the working age population in 2022 (those aged 16-64), 29% of those in work and 20% of the unemployed.
Of the 1.9m IT specialists based in the UK in 2022, just 22% (416,000) were aged 50 or above and if representation in IT were equal to the workforce 'norm' there would have been an additional 141,000 IT specialists in the UK aged 50 or above or 557,000 in total.
Across the UK, representation of older people in IT positions was lowest in London where just 16% were aged 50 and above.
Representation of ‘older’ workers varied from around one in seven (14%) Programmers/ Developers to one in three IT Directors and Project/Programme Managers (32% and 31% respectively).
In 2022 there were estimated to be around 12,000 unemployed IT specialists in the UK aged 50 and over equating to an unemployment rate of 2.8% more than double the rate for IT specialists aged 16-49 (1.3%).
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 (22% compared with 17% of those in younger age groups during 2022).
The median hourly earnings for older IT specialists in 2022 was £26 per hour - 8% more than that for IT specialists as a whole.
Older IT specialists are notably more likely to hold ‘responsible positions’ – almost half (48%) having managerial/supervisory status in their job (compared with 41% of younger IT specialists).
Older IT specialists are less likely to have an HE qualification and in 2022 only 66% of those aged 50 and had a qualification at this level compared with 72% of those aged 16-49.
Younger IT specialists are also much more likely to hold an IT degree than those aged 50 and above (11% versus 7% during 2022).
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.
