New Delhi, Aug. 19 -- In 1969 an affluent suburb of Washington, D.C. fought against a public housing project for elderly and less affluent residents. Outraged by the discrimination, Dr. Robert Neil Butler, who did groundbreaking work in the field of ageing, coined the term 'ageism' as a mark of protest.

Decades later the term has returned, this time in corporate boardrooms. As companies announce mass layoffs, estimates suggest mid- and senior-level executives are among the worst affected.

The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 warns that technological change, geo-economic fragmentation, economic uncertainty, demographic shifts, and the green transition could create 170 million jobs but also displace 92 million.

'45 is th...