The stock market has been hot but the job market has been cool, potentially leading some older workers to simply head for the exits sooner than they expected. Of course, much of the drop among older Americans is because of retirement, with more and more baby boomers aging out of the workforce. "My hunch is that this is as at least partially attributable to wealth effects from record highs in the stock market," he posted on LinkedIn. While the stock market has seen wild swings lately, the S&P 500 is up 13.5% so far in 2026 and has more than doubled since early 2021. The result has been a prolonged low-hire, low-fire job market that's left many workers of all ages stuck in limbo.