The lack of balance of national budgets and, in particular, of the social security budget, makes decision makers to look increasingly to the characteristics of the labour market and to the general output of economic activity. The better a country is placed in terms of the technological performance of economic activities, which favours an increased labour productivity, the higher are the values of the gross domestic product of the state's general income, and the country's possibility to afford a social policy that is more adapted to the needs of the population. Innovation performance classifies EU member states into four groups, each of these groups having almost a specific curve of the participation rates according to age and sex. In Romania, the population's activity rates according to age groups in the more developed regions are closer to those in the countries with the best innovation performance, although, as a whole, Romania is placed in the fourth and last group according to innovation results among EU member states. In our country, the activity rates according to age group have decreased in recent years, especially with respect to groups aged 50 or more, although the retirement age for men is the highest among EU countries. The increase of labour productivity has boosted economic growth in the recent past but, because of the lack of coherent economic policies, this growth has not. In Romania, activity rates for certain age groups were higher three decades ago and even in the first years of the transition to the market economy. Several scenarios for the projection of rates of participation to economic life until 2020, according to age groups are useful - and, possibly, also realistic, even if the (optimistic) scenario with the highest activity rates is taken into account. The latter could be achieved if policies are implemented which enable workforce retention in the country and a better match between the qualification level and profile and the job description.