Ageism and age discrimination in the labour market and employer responses

Technical reportThis paper reviews what is known about employer attitudes, policies and practices in relation to the employment and retention of older workers. Age discrimination appears to play an important role in the labour market. Older and younger workers may be prevented from working entirely, or from progressing at work because of age-discriminatory policies and practices. These may be based on ageist attitudes and assumptions about an individual’s motivation, experience, abilities, skills or knowledge. Other influences can be transmitted via human resource management policies, company ethos and marketing