71-year-old manager refuses to retire, leaving 36-year-old employee of 5 years with no room to get a promotion: 'What am I supposed to do? Just wait until I’m 40 for my first promotion?'

The system isn't working for the old folks, and it's not good for the young folks either.

Everyone is at a different place in their career at various ages. While it's common to be in entry-level roles in your early and mid twenties, the rate at which people climb the corporate ladder depends much more on their life circumstances than their age. When examining broader trends rather than individual cases, one sees that many people reach the height of their careers in their 40s and 50s. This is when they're earning more than they did in their 20s and 30s and securing the positions they worked for years to attain.

What happens when there aren't jobs for people who are ready to step up and be higher-ups? Are they destined to stay in their entry-level position until the older generations retire? It can be tricky when the workforce is aging. Not everyone over 65 can retire, and workers 60 and over are unlikely to leave their positions because they know it will be nearly impossible to find a new one. There's a lot of hiring discrimination against older workers, so all older workers can do is hold onto their jobs for as long as they can. 

If people at or nearing retirement age remain in the workforce, it will almost certainly affect younger workers' ability to advance within the corporate ladder. There is greater competition among younger workers from those with far more experience. It isn't easy to succeed when you're qualified for a role, but everyone else applying for the role is overqualified.