If you are male, white and over fifty, it is hard to land a new senior executive job. The labour market might be tight, but not for this group. I know several senior executives who have made splendid careers; they wanted to switch jobs once more but they found their way blocked: the labour market is closed for them.
Individually that might be sad, but at the level of society it is a good thing. It demonstrates that organizations are finally getting serious about recruiting women and men from a different background. The diversity of senior management should finally increase as a result.
This doesn’t mean that white males over fifty are wholesale retiring from corporate life. They are working as independent coaches and counselors and they are claiming non-executive positions. The latter implies that the average age in supervisory boards is decreasing, bringing more diversity into these forums too. Initial individual sadness thus leads to societal benefit.