Age as the basis of discrimination is one of the most common personal characteristics that citizens complain about, and in the past five years, that basis was the second among them. Half of these complaints referred to discrimination against children and youth, most often in the field of education and professional training, health care and social and family protection, said the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality Brankica Janković at the conference “Recommendations for improving the position of young people from vulnerable groups in Serbia”.

Discrimination on the grounds of age is particularly pronounced in the field of labor and employment. On the one hand, we have been facing the problem of youth outflow for several decades, which requires decisive measures in the systems of education, employment, housing, and support for families and children. On the other hand, the labor market is not particularly favorable towards young people, because just as it does not offer a chance to the elderly, considering them useless and insufficiently trained for the modern, digital age, it does not give young people the opportunity to show their worth, reproaching them for lack of work experience, Janković pointed out.

The institution of the Commissioner sent several recommendations and initiatives to the authorities, proposing measures necessary to ensure young people an equal position on the labor market and improve their employment opportunities. It is necessary to turn to the system of values that young people state as important – first of all to perceive work as a value, ensure advancement based on work results, favorable working conditions, fair wages and equal remuneration for work of the same value, the Commissioner said.