About 1 in 4 professionals is stuck in a mid-career stall, study finds

MoneyWatch Nearly 1 in 4 white-collar workers is stuck in a mid-career stall, new research finds .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-moneywatch.jpg'); } By Megan Cerullo Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting. Read Full Bio Megan Cerullo June 1, 2026 / 4:16 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Almost one in four white-collar workers is experiencing a hidden professional crisis: a "mid-career stall," defined as at least five years without a promotion or meaningful raise, new research shows.The costs of a mid-career stall can translate into tens of thousands of dollars in lost wages, plus other benefits that come with career progression like retirement security, the researchers from Burning Glass Institute and New York University's School of Professional Studies found. The study, which tracked 1.3 million mid-career professionals across a range of industries over 25 years, determined that 24.2% of mid-career professionals are stalled in their workplaces. The researchers defined "mid-career" as the period roughly 10 to 15 years after a worker starts their professional career."People start to feel trapped. Stalled workers are doing everything society asked them to do. They got a degree, tried to build a career and stay employed, yet somehow they stop moving forward," Burning Glass Institute education economist Carlo Salerno, the report's lead author, told CBS News. "This is why it's a hidden crisis, because none of these things show up in unemployment statistics."Salerno said the findings reveal a split between a labor market that looks healthy on the surface and the experience of workers who remain employed but are no longer climbing the corporate ladder or receiving the pay and benefits that...