Companies have been urged to encourage older people to apply for jobs and to adopt formal anti-age discrimination policies.

With the age profile of workers in the Republic expected to increase dramatically in coming decades, the business community must plan ahead by developing structures that facilitate the recruiting and integration into the workforce of older staff, said employers' group IBEC.

Firms should formally adopt equal opportunity policies, conduct age-profile analyses of existing employees and establish steering groups to oversee hiring policy, IBEC advised. The guidelines were published by the organisation yesterday.

The number of Irish workers aged 45 to 69 will rise 24 per cent by 2011, from 944,100 to 1,174,200, said Ms Maria Cronin, IBEC director.

Steps must be taken if the State is to avoid labour shortages of the kind today experienced by EU states with ageing workforces such as Germany, she said.

Mr Cronin said: "Despite our relatively young workforce, Ireland's population is ageing. We need to address the issues arising from the early retirement of older workers or we could be faced with a similar crisis in labour supply and pensions currently being experienced by some of our European partners."

Although there is a perception that companies are wary of recruiting older employees, there is firm evidence available that such discrimination is not widespread, according to IBEC.

A recent ESRI survey found that 50 per cent of firms have no preferences as to worker age and that nearly 60 per cent valued the experience of mature staff.