Generational Gridlock Hurting Younger Workers Career Advancements and Job Potential  

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Clint Eastwood and Richard Gere aren’t the only octogenarians with no intention of retiring. Today, nearly 2 million members of the Silent Generation – born 1928 to 1945 – are still fully employed, in addition to 21 million Baby Boomers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  

With older workers staying on jobs longer, there are now five generations in the workforce and the career ladder has become crowded at the top. Young workers say this has made it harder to launch their careers and get promoted.   

 “In short, the boomers benefited from a variety of structural changes to the labor market. These shifts - like delayed retirement, the high cost of moving jobs, and stagnant firm growth – have a been a boon to older workers, keeping them in higher-paying positions for longer,” said Nicola Bianchi, a labor economist at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.   

Bianchi points out that these labor shifts come at the expense of younger workers, who can’t reach the ranks held by older workers.  “Instead, they face lower wages, slow career growth and more frequent job changes,’’ according to Bianchi’s research.    

The share of the labor force made up of workers older than 55 is now 23 percent, up from about 10 percent in 1990.  Evidence of the harm in this is “the growing income gap between younger and older workers,’’ said Bianchi.  “Neither income inequality nor changes in type of jobs is to blame. The main problem is generational gridlock,’’ according to Bianchi.   

 “We know that worker demographics have changed – the workforce has become older – but the usual supply and demand dynamics have not applied,’’ said Bianchi. “In fact, the opposite is true. And it’s due to macroeconomic shifts, not necessarily from demographic shifts,’’ said Bianchi.   

Bianchi argues that  those shifts could mean trouble for firms who are looking to recruit and retain young workers, since firms often can’t offer high wages and the potential  to rise in the ranks. “It is going to be one of the biggest issues facing firms,’’ according to Bianchi, who became interested in studying changes in workforce demographics after Italy raised its retirement age to 67 in 2011. 

Labor consultants confirm what Bianchi has found in his research about workplace “generational gridlock.’’  

Karen Litzinger of Litzinger Career Consulting in Pittsburgh, Pa. said that she has had several clients who chose to look for new jobs since the next step up was held by someone who planned to stay until retirement.  

 “Of course, retirement timelines vary with people living longer and many wanting to stay in their roles for stimulation or finances,’’ said Litzinger, author of  the award-winning book, “Help Wanted: An A to Z Guide to Cope with the Ups and Downs of the Job Search.’’ 

By contrast, Litzinger also reports that some clients who wanted to move because they reached a ceiling at their organization didn’t seem to resent the boomers staying in their jobs , but just accepted it as a fact of life.  

Labor analysts say one way for younger workers to escape the vicious “generational gridlock’’ cycle is to start their own company and become  more entrepreneurial.  Entrepreneurship continues to surge in the United States with 430,000 new business applications per month in 2024, 50 percent more than in 2019, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.  

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