Key messages: Employer reluctance to hire and retain older workers partly reflects age discrimination and, thus, there is a need for information campaigns, guidelines and age-discrimination legislation. However, there are also a number of other, more objective factors driving employer behaviour. For example, this may include seniority wages or strict employment protection legislation. All of these factors will need to be tackled in order to encourage employers to provide older workers with more job opportunities. This will also require a change of attitudes on the part of trade unions and older workers themselves.