Employers look to older workers to fill vacancies as skills gaps bite

Published on Monday 12 June 2006 12:59

COMPANIES are increasingly turning to older workers to fill their vacancies, according to a new report published today by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development).

The CIPD said that 70 per cent of employers were "actively" looking to recruit people between the ages of "55 and pension age".

The organisation, which polled more than 800 private, public and voluntary organisations, also said that 31 per cent of those asked said they were looking to employ people already receiving a state pension. Filling skills gaps and complying with age discrimination legislation due to come into force in October were the reasons for the recruitment policy, the CIPD said.

According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, around 40 per cent of the jobs created in the past year were filled by people over pensionable age.

The CIPD said: "It is encouraging to see that so many organisations are introducing age-diverse practices ahead of the new regulations in October.

"This enables employers to tap into the relatively unused talent pool of older workers to overcome recruitment difficulties and help build an age-diverse workforce that can add real value to business, not just in terms of older workers but all age groups."