06-10-2026
Employer Insight: A May 2026 study from NYU and The Burning Glass Institute shared that 24.2% of mid-career professionals have stalled careers. They defined stalled as a period of five years or more without a meaningful promotion and negligible wage increases. Most official statistics do not track this information, with the researchers calling it a “hidden crisis.” However, stalled careers result in underutilized talent for employers and significant cumulative lost wages for employees. As an example, the study used an average software developer. That developer’s stalled career would result in a deficit of over $43,000 over 15 years compared to an upwardly mobile peer.
The researchers looked at over 1.3 million career histories at the ten-year mark. Of course, the deficit amount varies across occupations. In the finance and software development fields, their penalties are multiplied because they lose out on accelerating returns from work momentum. Other occupations may have flatter reward curves. Stall rates are lower in information technology (20.7%) compared to public administration (30.2%).
Carlo Salerno, the lead author, said the findings reflect a split between a healthy-looking labor market and these workers experiencing an inability to climb the corporate ladder and receive increased benefits. Stalled employees do not have access to valuable project and leadership experience. Overall, organizations have become flatter, with fewer opportunities to advance. There are also fewer opportunities for employees to switch employers or relocate in the current job market.
The trajectory heading toward a stall should be visible early. The report stated that the “mid-career stall is a structural problem, not an individual failure.” Intervening is better than remediation later. The authors recommend targeted learning and intentional talent mobility by workers and employers.