Career and salary survey data also revealed 40.2% of people working in marketing are between the ages of 26 and 35.
The problem of age discrimination in marketing runs deep. From the focus on “digital natives” to brands' obsession with youth, aging marketers are suffering.
Marketing Week's exclusive 2024 career and salary data reveals just how skewed the marketing profession is towards younger people. Of the more than 3,000 marketers who participated in this year's survey, 70.2% are between the ages of 26 and 45.
Digging deeper into this statistic, 40.2% of marketers are between the ages of 26 and 35, and 30% are between the ages of 36 and 45.
This is a slight improvement over the 2023 survey, where nearly three-quarters (74.6%) of marketers were between the ages of 26 and 45.
Similarly, 20.4% of marketers are between the ages of 46 and 65 this year, up from 14.5% last year. In 2024, almost a tenth (8.6%) of marketers will be between the ages of 18 and 25 (last year it was 9.7%).
Marketers urged to 'open up the industry' to older talent as research confirms youth bias Marketing's bias against youth is well-documented. The latest full census conducted by the Advertising Association, ISBA and IPA, combined with the Career and Salary Survey, found that around three-quarters of marketers are under 45.
David Weldon, former chief marketing officer at Royal Bank of Scotland Group, argued in Marketing Week last year that experience should be valued. “But the data doesn't lie. We have a problem. We've had a problem for several years. No one seems to be doing anything about it.”
Additionally, recruiters and job-seeking marketers told Marketing Week that more senior marketers are now unemployed and looking for work than ever before. This is due to a variety of factors, including redundancies, dissatisfied senior staff leaving, and marketers going freelance.
2024 Career and Salary Survey data reveals that a persistent lack of age diversity is having a negative impact on talent, and despite a slight improvement from last year's numbers, the situation is rapidly increasing. There has been no improvement.
Over the coming weeks, Marketing Week will be publishing more exclusive news and features based on our 2024 Careers and Salaries survey, including a deep dive into the issue of ageism in marketing. Click here to see all the content we've published so far.
