A UNIVERSITY has launched an investigation into age discrimination in the work place.

The University of Teesside, at Middlesbrough, is carrying out a survey of businesses and business practice, funded by the European Social Fund.

An appeal is going out to firms across the region who employ 250 staff or fewer, to share their practices and attitude about the age of employees with the university.

Project manager Catherine McCauley-Smith said that new European legislation making age discrimination illegal was just around the corner, while the birth rate was falling and young people were migrating away from the area in search of jobs.

She said: "Little research has been undertaken in the region to examine factors associated with work-based age discrimination.

"The pool of younger resources is shrinking and will come to a standstill in our region by 2015. Therefore, employers need to consider the benefits of employing older workers now.

"In this country we are criticised for being short term thinkers.

"I want to highlight the fact there is no cause for alarm. We have a workforce there, it just a matter of changing the profile."

The project, due to get under way next month, will look at the age diversity of employees and the attitudes of older and younger workers to each other