Kind of seems to me like now that the election is over, the fed's (and lots of others) see the next two years as being stable, stable as in nothings going to change much from where it's at right now....so if people are "ok" with where things are now it makes them feel better financially. Also...maybe now that the stock market is nearing where it once was, maybe some of the older workers who put off retiring due to their losses in the stock market, maybe now they can go ahead and retire, thus allowing jobs to open up for younger workers.