For now, having compensation tied to their company's performance is a plus for most employees. And employers who grant options often do so to control labor costs. Still, options won't be so appealing to workers in a market decline. Moreover, options hurt the Fed's ability to tell what's happening to pay, since options are only partially accounted for in the Fed's calculation of wages. In theory, this means that the old market-killer, inflation, could spring to life before the Fed can take measures to contain it.
Some economists also see as ominous the market's new role as a repository for savings.
Macroeconomic Advisers has pinpointed the cause as the stock market. Instead of putting aside a bit of each paycheck for a rainy day, many people are buying stock. They let appreciation in those shares create savings for them while they spend their salaries on cars or computers, videos or vacations. The effect would depend a lot on how much, and for how long. And the individual impact would vary significantly depending on how long investors had been in the market and how large their gains were.