Summary
Overview
This Planet Money episode explores the growing tension between older workers staying in their jobs longer and younger workers struggling to move up. Through interviews with frustrated millennials, academics, and economists, the episode examines the controversial idea of mandatory retirement ages as a potential solution to generational workplace conflicts, weighing arguments about fairness, economic impacts, and who really benefits when people work into their 70s and beyond.
The Frustration of Younger Workers Stuck Behind Boomers
Ryan Hendrickson, a 37-year-old NASA engineer, describes his disappointment when passed over for promotion in favor of someone who had held the same position 20-30 years earlier and was in their late 60s or early 70s. His experience sparked conversations on Reddit where other millennials shared similar frustrations about senior colleagues refusing to retire, making it nearly impossible to advance despite working hard. These workers feel trapped in a broken system where the implicit contract of working hard to move up no longer functions.
- Ryan Hendrickson was passed over for a NASA supervisor position for someone who had been there 40-45 years and already held that exact role 20-30 years prior
- The person who got the job was 66-67 years old, possibly 75 if accounting for their PhD completion
- Ryan posted on the Millennial subreddit asking if others noticed senior colleagues refusing to retire and blocking career advancement
- BJ Swamy, a tech engineer, wrote 'Boomers won't retire and it's screwing the rest of us' and received intense reactions on Reddit
- Younger workers report being unable to get promoted, earn more money, or save for their own retirement
" The role I was going for was filled by someone who was well into retirement age, but also had that exact same role like 20 years prior to that, you know, definitely felt unfair. "
" I would love to save for retirement, but I can't get promoted. So I can't make more money and I barely save anything. And it's almost like I know I'm going to probably be the same person in my 70s doing the same thing. "
" It's just a cycle, and it sucks, and I don't know what the solution is, honestly. "
The Case for Mandatory Retirement
Yale professor Samuel Moyn argues in his new book that older Americans are hoarding power, wealth, and jobs, creating unfairness for younger generations. He proposes bringing back mandatory retirement ages for high-paying white-collar jobs like engineering, law, academia, and executive positions. Moyn points out that forced retirement at specific ages used to be standard practice in America - even Nobel Prize winners like Milton Friedman and Albert Einstein had to retire when they hit their universities' age limits.
- Samuel Moyn, Yale professor, argues older workers are 'hoarding' positions and blocking younger people from acquiring similar opportunities
- In the 1970s, about half of all U.S. jobs came with mandatory retirement at age 65
- Famous academics like Albert Einstein and Milton Friedman were forced to retire under mandatory retirement rules
- Congress made mandatory retirement largely illegal in 1986, though universities had a temporary exemption
- The pay gap between workers over 55 and under 35 increased by 61% between 1979 and 2018
- The U.S. is the first society in history where you're more likely to be poor if you're young than if you're old
" People are under the thumb of old people, old men, most commonly. "
" When older people are hoarding their positions and refusing to retire, they're inhibiting other people from getting what they have acquired. "
" I've said 70. I mean, I like 69 and a half... No, but look, we have people who are in their 80s here. Look, I want a general rule we all agree about. And if it's 65, I'm down. "
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