Move to fight ageism in the workplace

Date: 01/07/1999

By Simon Coss

EU GOVERNMENTS will next week discuss ways to combat age discrimination in the workplace, even though their own civil services are often among the Union's worst offenders.

The relatively poor employment prospects for Europeans who find themselves out of work later in life will be high on the agenda when social affairs ministers meet informally in the Finnish city of Oulu next Thursday (8 July).

But critics point out that recruitment procedures for many national civil services prevent people from applying for posts once they have passed a certain 'cut-off' age.

Acting Social Affairs Commissioner Pádraig Flynn is likely to use the occasion to outline his plans for new EU legislation to outlaw age discrimination. But he will have to concede that the Commission is also far from blameless when it comes to older job-seekers. Until recently, the rules barred anyone over 35 from sitting the institution's entrance examinations.

The incoming Finnish presidency will argue that the EU has so far focused on the needs of young people and the long-term unemployed and should now turn its attention to older people.

Officials point out that the Union's population is ageing, with more people leaving the labour market than entering it. They also argue that if more use is not made of older Europeans who are still of working age, the EU could eventually find itself facing a serious skills shortage.

The Commission shares these concerns. "There is not just an ethical case to be made here but an economic one as well." said one official.

The institution says it hopes to unveil plans for age discrimination legislation as soon the new Commission takes office in the autumn. But officials stress that the main purpose of the initiative is to change deeply ingrained attitudes towards older workers.