Maybe I am reading the House committee report incorrectly, but I think it says that they increased in the recruitment age to 35 in the second improved selection criteria. Presumably it was lower before?
How many "retiring" pilots or any other career (other than sport) for that matter would be under this age?
Also harking back just a few years now, but when I embarked upon my studies for my career, it appeared to me that the "wastage" rate by the end of the first year exceeded 50% in nearly all streams of learning due to incorrect choice of path, lack of capability, immaturity, ill heath, change of circumstance (resulting in needing any job right now), loss of enthusiasm, et al.
It seems to me if this very exacting career (ATC) path, with poor hours of work and high stress levels, ended up with a retention rate over 50% from the learning process, then perhaps things are not as bad as it seems on the surface.