ABSTRACT
Because everyone has an age, there is also perhaps a signifi cant risk of multiple discrimination, so that age is added to at least one other protected characteristic to increase the possibility of disadvantage. For example, although the unemployment rates for young people (16-24 year olds) in the UK are very high, the unemployment rates for young black people are signifi cantly higher than those for young white people. According to fi gures from the government Offi ce for National Statistics, the unemployment rate for young people in 2011 stood at 21.9%; the same fi gure was 20.8% for young white people compared to some 47.4% for young black people. This suggests that the latter group suffered because of both their age and their colour or ethnic origin. 1
It is also interesting to speculate as to why the UK has legislation on age discrimination at all. The USA adopted the Age Discrimination in Employment Act in 1967 on the coat-tails of the civil rights legislation on race and sex. In the UK and the EU the experience is much more recent. Successive UK governments rejected the idea of legislation on age discrimination 2 and even introduced a voluntary code of practice on age in 1999. 3 The Framework Directive, including age, was, of course, adopted in 2000. Most countries were allowed three years to transpose it into national law, but there was the possibility of asking for an extension of a further three years, which the UK took. Thus the UK fi nally implemented the Directive in 2006 when it adopted the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations. 4 Most of these Regulations have now been incorporated into the Equality Act 2010.
