This paper explores the problem of discrimination of young people in employment and gaining first work experience. Simply, discrimination is the unequal treatment of a person due to some characteristic that differentiate that person from the observer. Discrimination is present in all segments of life and among various groups of people. Today, discrimination is particularly pronounced in employment and one of the discriminated groups are young people. The problem area of discrimination against young people at the labour market in Croatia has not been given sufficient significance in the scientific research. It is important to make public aware of the problem of the discrimination, both among young people and other discriminated groups. Any form of discrimination should be prevented or at least minimized. The empirical part of the paper investigates perceptions of young people about the presence of discrimination in employment and gaining a first work experience. The research was conducted on a sample of 118 respondents with varying degrees and areas of education, and a mandatory criterion of age between 18 and 30 years. The results show that a half of respondents believe that they have never been discriminated based on their age during employment or gaining a first work experience, while the other half of respondents do not agree with that. Respondents feel discriminated especially on the type of employment contract they are offered (temporary work contracts), and based on their insufficient work experience.