Why businesses don't see mature employees

28.09.2026, 09:20◉ 02 min readEditorial team “SHCHO STALOSIA”

Millions of people of working age are not officially employed in the country. According to the European Business Association (EBA), three out of four Ukrainian employers experience a shortage of employees, another 21% face it partially.

Why businesses don't see mature employees

For companies, this is a longer search for people, more workload on teams and the delayed launch of new areas. At the same time, there are many people of working age who do not officially work. Therefore, the answer to the personnel shortage should be sought not only in attracting new people, but also in reviewing approaches to hiring.

According to the Mykhailo Ptukha Institute for Demography and Quality of Life Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 29 million people live in Ukraine, of which 10.4 million are officially employed. If you do not take into account children, students and some people of retirement age, there are approximately 5 million working-age adults who are not officially working.

That doesn't mean they can all go to work. Someone takes care of relatives, someone had to move, and employers do not need someone's skills. However, these figures show that the country has labor potential.

Details

One of the groups that businesses should pay attention to is people over the age of 50. Of course, this group is heterogeneous and not all of its members can or want to work. However, among them there are many professionals with experience, willingness to learn and a desire to remain economically active.

How imperceptibly age stereotypes work, the discussion in social networks around the illustration to the news about the project "Experience Matters" showed. The material about people over the age of 50 was illustrated with a photo of people of much older age and the audience reacted to it.

What's next

This case shows how often we automatically perceive the age of 50 as elderly and associate it with the completion of the professional path. This perception affects not only communication, but also how the employer reads the resume, assesses the candidate's ability to learn, and decides whether to call for an interview.

It is not only parents of young children who have care responsibilities. People over the age of 50 often care for older parents or other relatives, which affects the work schedule. Flexible start-ups, part-time jobs, predictable shifts, or remote work expand the pool of candidates and help companies retain workers.