Much attention has been focused on the challenges that Gen Z workers have had adapting to workplace rules and behavior, as well as the major upheavals of their youth— including the financial sector meltdown, subsequent Great Recession, and the pandemic—that conditioned their interaction with the world. In contrast to the trials Gen Zers grappled with earlier in life, many Gen X professionals are now getting the short end of the professional stick as they enter the final phases of their careers, only to find the doors to C-suite promotions becoming increasingly harder to open.
A recently published working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) offers insights into why many members of the generation born between 1965 and 1980 are having a harder time accessing their companies’ top executive ranks. The main impediment, the study found, is the increasing age of people currently holding CEO roles, and their disinclination to free up those positions for Gen X professionals waiting for a turn to lead. At the same time, countless millennial employees are already chomping at the bit to move into senior executive roles, creating a risk that those younger professionals may end up leapfrogging their Gen X colleagues when C-suite positions finally open up.
That situation reinforces the view of some observers that Gen X represents the U.S. workforce’s “forgotten generation.” Born between more numerous groups of baby boomers and millennials, the cohort’s members have frequently been overlooked in social, political, cultural and media debate, and even in inter-generation workplace organization. Now many Gen Xers find themselves sidelined at the very moment they expected to step into top leadership roles for the last 10 to 15 years of their careers.
That’s happening as the average age of U.S. CEOs has risen to 61 years, a full decade older than in 2000. That’s in part a result of bosses being named to their posts increasingly later in life—at an average of 48 years at the turn of the century, and 55 years in 2023. Because of those later appointments, the NBER study notes the C-suite “aging trend is unlikely to arise solely from longer tenures, later retirement, or CEO entrenchment,” and instead represents a broad “upward shift throughout” the economy.
The tendency to recruit older CEOs, and appoint them to the top spot later in life than before, was even more frequent at smaller businesses than in larger firms. That in part reflects more modest-sized companies being even more sensitive to the concerns driving the wider changes.
Just what are those? NBER researchers say one big factor recurring, often existentially threatening disruptions that buffeted companies over the past two decades. Those led businesses to start looking for more experienced leaders capable of overcoming the broadest range of potential financial, economic, and geopolitical emergencies possible. At the same time, current CEOs tend to have gained more insights and capabilities—and with a greater variety of firms—than previous generations.
“(T)oday’s CEOs have held a larger number of positions across more firms and industries than their counterparts in 2000,” the report says. “(Consequently) CEOs’ employment histories have become longer, leading to the increased age of CEOs upon appointment.”
But as an analysis of NBER’s paper by business consultancy Korn Ferry points out, the trend of CEOs being hired later in life—then remaining in those jobs into older ages than before—is placing Gen Xers in a double bind.
On the one hand, the opportunities for Gen X members to step up and into C-suite roles have diminished as companies turn to, and stick with, deeply experienced leaders to face current headwinds. Yet that increases the risk that younger millennial colleagues may be viewed as better positioned to face newer challenges when today’s CEO and other senior leaders start preparing their exit. In fact, that may already be happening.
“While the average age of CEOs is currently 61, many boards are now more open to appointing leaders younger than 50, believing they might better be able to navigate today’s business challenges, such as AIdigital marketingand changing customer demographics,” Korn Ferry said in a blog post. “For a time, experts say, Gen X was perceived as being too young. Now some boards feel the other way about them, wanting fresh ideas from younger executives.”
Is there any good news for Gen Xers who are once again finding themselves squeezed between baby boomers and millennials? A little—maybe. According to the NBER study, the age of CEOs appointed in 2025 dropped to 54.4 years, down from 55.8 years in 2024. That may not be huge margin of movement, but at least its in their generation’s direction.
Still, with Korn Ferry reporting that 42 percent all U.S. CEOs are now aged 60 or older, if recent hiring trends continue they may leave Gen X professionals with both fewer opportunities to bid for corner office jobs, and longer waits for those to arise.
The super-early-rate deadline for the 2026 Inc. Power Partner Awards is Friday, May 29, at 11:59 PT. Apply now.
