The real key to revolution in the British workplace of the future will lie in demographics, and not technology, according to James Purnell, MP, Minister of State for Pensions Reform, at the Department of Work and Pensions.

Purnell, speaking Thursday at a conference on the future of employment, warned a London audience of “the danger of over privileging technology...There will be a bigger change in demographics rather than technology”.

As the population ages, Purnell said, employers who fail to take advantage of older workers will miss out on one-third of the potential workforce. He noted that 2006 is the last year when the number of children in Britain will outnumber people over the state pension age.

“The future can no longer be solely the preserve of the young,” Purnell said. He described such thinking as “a myth” that had to be stopped.

He was asked by an audience member whether women’s greater longevity should dictate a later default retirement age for them than for men. Purnell responded that the government will review the current default retirement age of 65, in general, in 2011.

The conference was sponsored by job board Monster.