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Significant signs of ageism are showing in the current hiring market, and an experienced talent specialist warns industries are on track to lose "invaluable" knowledge.

During any period when organisation are making roles redundant, older workers tend to be disproportionately impacted, Parity Consulting founder Victoria Butt tells HR Daily.

It's somewhat understandable, because "industries need to cut costs, so you want to take out some of your very expensive senior talent and 'juniorise' those roles".

But things are "different this time", she says, as age-based discrimination appears "prolific", and all signs point to it being "an institutionalised issue, rather than merely reflecting supply and demand changes".

Reviewing Parity Consulting's market research from earlier this year, involving some 4,500 people, Butt found that 55% of those out of work were aged 55 and over, a statistic she says is "significantly higher" than in the past...