Why are so many older professionals staying on the job years longer than previous generations? The reasons for delaying retirement are often deeply personal. Some employees continue working out of financial necessity, while many others choose to stay because their careers provide a steady paycheck and the immense satisfaction of being valued for their expertise.
When we previously explored this trend, Bureau of Labor Statistics data suggested the U.S. workforce included roughly 23 million workers over age 60. Today, that demographic continues to expand, with current estimates placing the number of older workers between 25 and 30 million.
While high employment rates among seniors is a positive sign for individual longevity, it may present challenges for younger professionals eager to climb the corporate ladder. We recently revisited an insightful opinion piece from the Washington Post by columnist Aden Barton. Barton, representing the younger cohort, argues that the decision to delay retirement can create significant barriers for early-career peers.
With five distinct generations now sharing the office, the Post suggests that entry-level hiring and internal promotions have become increasingly difficult. Let’s take a closer look at Barton’s perspective on this “generational gridlock” and his proposed solutions for a more balanced workplace.
Trends in Longevity: Why Many Older Workers Postpone Retirement
To begin his article, Barton evokes some famous octogenarians who have expressed no intention of retiring anytime soon, like Paul McCartney and Al Pacino. They are very famous faces representing a growing trend of aging workers who choose to postpone retirement because they don’t want to quit.
“As a result,” Barton writes, “the U.S. workforce is now packed with five generations — from the silent generation down to Gen Z.”
While Barton notes that there are benefits to having so many experienced workers still active in their careers, it can be a major hurdle for younger workers. “The career ladder has become crowded at the top, and this dims professional prospects for those at every rung below,” he explains. “Young workers find it harder to launch their careers and to get promoted.”
Additionally, according to economists Gabriele Guaitoli and Roberto Pancrazi who study this issue, this “demographic traffic jam” can also harm societal cohesion by leaving younger groups behind.
Historical Context: How the Concept of Retirement Has Evolved
With notable irony, Barton observes that, “For most of history, a worker’s ‘retirement plan’ was simple: death.”
However, he continues, this somber reality began to change in the 20th century when increased wealth in America and the creation of Social Security enabled workers to leave the workforce earlier and earlier. This trend didn’t reverse again until the 1990s.
Barton explains, “The age at which Americans could access their full Social Security payments was raised [gradually] to 67 in the 1980s, and many companies stopped offering pension plans. Workers often had to stay in their jobs longer to make ends meet. But many also did so voluntarily. Longer life expectancies and easier working conditions made this choice more attractive.”
As a result, in 1990 about 10 percent of the labor force was made up of workers over 55. At the time of Barton’s op-ed, this share was about 23 percent, and he noted that the expectation is that it will hover around this number over the next decade. Some studies show that 38 percent of Americans 55-plus are still working.
Defining the “Multigenerational Traffic Jam” in the Modern Office
Since Barton’s column uses the phrase “multigenerational traffic jam,” we wanted to see where that idea came from. In 2019 Paul Davidson apparently coined the phrase in an article in USA Today. The idea still resonates.
“There’s a multigenerational traffic jam on the upper rungs of America’s career ladder,” Davidson wrote. “As more baby boomers put off retirement, millennials and Gen Xers are finding it harder to move up into middle- and higher-level jobs.” That was according to a USA Today/LinkedIn survey and interviews the periodical held with recruiters.
Career Advancement: Younger Workers Turn to Job-Hopping
“Partly as a result, many younger workers are job-hopping as they seek bigger titles and higher pay,” USA Today observed. “That’s making it tougher for companies to hold onto promising employees and hurting their businesses in some cases, the survey shows.”
“This is the first time ever that five different generations are in America’s workforce at the same time, from Gen Zers up to baby boomers,” LinkedIn career expert Blair Decembrele told Davidson. “It’s no surprise that there are some growing pains.”
Analyzing the Income Gap Caused by Generational Gridlock
One of the signals of the workplace population shift is a growing income gap between older workers and younger ones. Economists Nicola Bianchi and Matteo Paradisi found that neither income inequality nor changes in types of jobs is at fault. “Instead, it has to do almost entirely with generational gridlock,” Barton concludes.
With older workers staying in their jobs longer, younger workers start off in comparatively lower-paying positions and move up the ladder more slowly, often having to wait decades for promotions. “In academia, for instance, young professionals now spend years in fellowships and postdoctoral programs waiting for professor jobs to open,” Barton writes.
The increased waiting for career advancement has the added effect of inspiring worry in younger workers that they might never be able to afford homes or children.
“This creates problems for companies, too,” Barton adds. “By the time their youngest employees reach the age of leadership, they will have spent less time than their predecessors did managing other people.”
Potential Solutions: Steps Toward a More Balanced Workplace
Barton is quick to remark, “No one wants to force older workers out of jobs. (All generations enjoy Al Pacino movies.)” But, he says, there needs to be a better balance struck between the retaining of older, more experienced workers and nurturing the younger ones.
“This won’t be easy,” he writes, “but here are a couple of ways to start.”
The first suggestion he gives is to encourage more start-ups. “In new businesses, younger workers move up relatively rapidly to leadership roles,” he explains. “Just look at Silicon Valley’s 20-year-old CEOs.”
He does add that the recent post-pandemic boom in Americans starting businesses is looking encouraging on this front. “There aren’t a lot of levers that policymakers can pull to incentivize more start-ups, but it would help to make it easier to obtain small-business loans and to further reduce regulatory barriers,” he writes.
Organizational Benefits: Combining Youthful Energy with Experience
Barton invites businesses to take action, as well, by allowing younger employees to assume more responsibility even as their older colleagues stay on the job. “This means creating more tiers for young people to advance — as the legal profession now does with its associate tracks — and moving senior talent into mentorship and training roles,” he writes.
Barton concludes that “generational gridlock” in the workplace is probably not going anywhere. But that could be an opportunity.
“There’s money to be made for companies and countries that figure out how to keep older workers involved without shutting out young talent,” he concludes. “For recent graduates entering the labor market, all solutions will be welcome.”
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