Age - an important criterion of discrimination on the labour market in Romania

The entire world is faced with aging; it is estimated that across Europe, working aged population will decrease by 20% in 2050 compared to 2000. Medicine’s attempts to extend life and improve living conditions is confused, oddly enough with the early retirement of persons, with the barriers that aged people feel in employment, especially in terms of recruitment, job preservation, opportunities for training, etc. Age discrimination can be considered special, because there is no specific target group, given that each person has a certain age and old age is a state that most people will reach once. Even if both the European and Romanian law requires clear that differentiation based on age is permitted only when justified; any age group cannot be a protected group; each individual must gain access to the advantages / disadvantages related to age, the age discrimination is perceived in both the European Union and in Romania as widespread, this paper aiming to provide on the one hand the stereotypes underlying this type of discrimination, and on the other, to outline the situation and problems facing the two categories of persons considered to be most affected by the discrimination - the elderly and the young.