This might be a deeper reason why moving into management is often necessary for most orgs. Exceptions include software-focused organizations where code can be one's channel for impact.
My father worked in a technical role all his live in a automotive plant. (Eventually being technically responsible for overall design and implementation of all production lines).
A lot of his former collegues moved into management during the early 2000's. Most got fired after the great recession because being a manager is considered a non skill compared to actually contributing to the actual core bussiness.
I would argue being responsible for a major operational part of the business is far more prestigious then being a manager.
I’ve erred for a month, but I just told him no. I still wonder whether I’m in the “worst managers reject good managers” category or in the “you gotta belong to the people you manage” category. But being able to do is very high on my list.
Then there are those who go into product management for all these reasons.
Many organizations have quite intelligently created parallel paths for contributors to keep advancing, which somewhat mitigates this effect. However, in the past, this was a widespread phenomenon, and it's still out there to some extent. You find contributors who think management is easier, or more prestigious, or less prone to ageism, and so will switch tracks.