This study investigates the unintended consequences of youth-favoring promotion policies, using the Chinese political system as an empirical context. While such policies are often implemented to rejuvenate leadership by prioritizing younger candidates and imposing strict age limits on promotions, our analysis reveals that they may paradoxically intensify aging in the long term. Drawing on a theoretical framework that examines the interaction of personnel policies, rigid hierarchical structures, and limited promotion opportunities, we demonstrate how these reforms create career bottlenecks and shrink the pool of eligible younger candidates over time. These dynamics, in turn, propagate aging patterns upward through the hierarchy, undermining the initial goals of rejuvenation. To explore this paradox, we analyzed career data for 228 provincial Party Secretaries in China from 1982 to 2022. This dataset, which includes detailed information on officials’ individual characteristics, career trajectories, and positions held, allowed us to trace how aging dynamics unfold within a rigid bureaucratic system. Our findings show that while youth-favoring policies reduce the average age of senior officials in the short term, they deplete the talent pool at lower levels, forcing organizations to promote older candidates in subsequent years. These insights extend beyond political systems and have broader implications for hierarchical organizations, including businesses organizations. We argue that personnel policies must account for structural dynamics and their long-term effects. This study also highlights the importance of designing diversity-oriented promotion policies that align with broader organizational structures to achieve equitable and lasting outcomes.
