Older contractors and other businesspeople who have worked through previous recessions are better able to cope during difficult times, an expert has claimed.

Rachel Krys, director of Inclusive Employers, said the experience of older employees can make a workforce more resilient when things get tough.

She explained that those who had seen downturns in the 70s and the 90s had a more positive attitude than younger workers during the latest recession, as they were confident the situation would improve.

"When this latest recession hit, what employers were finding was particularly the younger people were reading the newspapers, they were listening to the news and it was all doom-laden ... suddenly it was really hard to get sales, suddenly this job is really difficult," said Ms Krys.

This comes after figures released by the Office for National Statistics found that the number of people aged over 65 and in employment increased by 56,000 over the three months to January to a total of 900,000.