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See if this resonates: You're a college-educated professional with 15 years of experience in your field. You collect a steady paycheck, so in some ways you feel lucky just to have a job. But it's been five years since you were last promoted or paid a meaningful raise, and you don't see any clear path for advancement.

Put simply, you've stalled out. And according to new research, 24% of mid-career professionals in the U.S. are in the same boat.

Of course, even if you're not as far along in your career, presumably you don't ever want to hit this wall. So here's what the Burning Glass Institute and New York University's School of Professional Studies learned by studying 1.3 million career histories.

The findings: Among professionals 10-15 years into their careers, 24% had no promotion and less than 5% wage growth over at least a five-year period. While the researchers didn't generalize what that might mean for lost wages, they did offer an example: The average "stalled" software developer likely lost more than $43,000 in earnings over a 15-year period.

The backdrop: The problem seems to be structural, not personal — driven by an internal weakening in corporate America. This includes less defined career ladders, more expensive mid-career education, and an increasing emphasis on informal networks (aka who you know.)

The learnings: By comparing the careers of those who didn't lose momentum, the researchers made these recommendations:

•   Don't start from scratch. Take skills you already have to slide into adjacent roles with stronger growth prospects. (Think: a computer programmer moving into data science or a teacher moving into corporate learning and development.)

•   Master the skills that connect people. The data showed that the workers who kept moving up excelled at speaking to a group, managing their time, working as a team, and doing research. They also had a leg up on outward-facing skills, like handling social media, planning events, and building audience engagement.

•   Your field matters: Some industries naturally have lower ceilings and fewer promotions to go around. Public administration, for instance, has a higher instance of stalled careers than IT. Acquiring credentials after college is also more important in some fields than others. Rather than collecting credentials for the sake of it, learn with a destination in mind.

•   Be proactive. Workers who wound up flatlining had already accumulated fewer promotions and substantially lower wage growth earlier in their careers.

Related Reading

Stalled At Work? 3 Tips to Take Control of Your Career Growth (Nerdwallet)

Climbing the Corporate Ladder: Tips for Career Advancement (Investopedia)

Achieving Your Career Goals This Year (SoFi)

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