google plus and more. >> lives will never be the same. we're now living in what is being called the new normal economy, and today i'm explore how it has changed the way americans live and work. how it is altering your job prospects, and what it means for your investments or savings. i'll tell you how to adapt and make sure your future is secure. "real money" ♪ this is "real money." you are the most important part of the show.

tell me what is on your find my tweeting me or hit me up on facebook. the great recession gave birth to a phrase that helps describe the profound changes that are now sweeping america and other industrialized countries. the new normal. it's partly the idea that developed economies are now growing a lot slower than they once did. so even as economies bounce back, life will not return to what we used to consider normal. it's also about what this new economic reality means for investors, for businesses, governments, and regular working people. one example is the income nonexistent wage growth we have seen. that's making the new normal feel down right miserable for many americans. even as the job and housing market regain strength. today we're exploring various ways the new normal is playing out in your lives, and we'll start with the job market. the jobs recovery has been slow but steady. but this recovery has not pumped

enough life into the middle class. there are lots of reasons for that, including a lack of manufacturing jobs and technology that has replaced good-paying jobs. the question is what should be done it. this man says government could be doing more. >> it's very important for government to be proactive, and what we have seen, really, in the last 12 to 16 years is a go that has not been proactive, a government that hasn't taken the right steps to incentivize the right type of growth. we have gone the opposite direction. we could end the double taxation for individual incomes for households -- >> what do you mean by that? >> right now we have a lot of state and local governments that provide sales taxes and do increases or income taxes and we get some

benefit from the federal government but not full benefit especially with regards to the sales tax. i think that's one area you can say you don't have to get taxed on the money you spend. therefore it would reduce the amount of tax liability that households have to pay. >> and then they can put that money back into the economy. >> exactly. you have more disposable income, you can spend more money on goods and services. and we have to go to upper income individuals as well, where we double tax dividends and capitol gains. and we could change the capital gains tax laws and do that in a way to get away from the tierney of three-month earnings which also goes into one of the factors of why we have gotten

into this plan, the easiest way to do it is cut compensation, so we have to change capital gains tax laws. anything less than five years is ordinary income, less than five years is tax free. >> you pay a lower tax on your gains from an investment but you don't have to hold thank investment for five years. you can do it in a year. >> correct. >> you are saying if you want to save your tax, you have to make investments that you commit to for a period of time, >> correct. >> so you want a company to say, hey, make 20% over five years. >> correct. and that's pivotal because right now we have what i call the tierney of three-month earnings. every company has to hit that double-digit earnings numbers. and these companies are struggling to put the profits at

double digits and they can't. if you change from short-term capital game to long-term capital game companies can change their investment strategy. it may give me 20% over five years, and that's how long it takes to take a project from thought to completion -- >> right. standpoint. >> all right. let's talk about part-time workers. we are in a world -- these kids don't think they are getting jobs for 20 years at a time, these are part-time workers, people who are part-time worker for economic reasons. for the year 2,000 it was around 1% at the turn of the century, look at these numbers now. now we're down a little lower than 6%. what does this mean? >> it's a function of the fact that we have changed the employment compensation in order to get a higher return in a

single-digit return world we have had to reduce the amount of cost an employee provides to a corporation, and one of the ways to do it is to get people's benefits out of the equation, and one of the easiest ways to work. >> this is the recession, so when companies have to shed costs fast, employees are that. >> correct. >> now these economies not knowing where the economy is going for five years now, maintain their flexibility but haves contract workers. but you can see this declining. but you're saying we're never going back to here. >> probably not, unless we find some way of dealing with the healthcare situation, because with obamacare -- the thing that worries me the most is some corporation is to say the

quickest way to get my earnings is throw all of my employees off of health care and let them go to the government health care. so you as an individual wind up having less income. and then we'll probably get to the point where we begin to reverse this. >> but if everybody is on baum health care rates may go down. >> but they are also go up in terms of expense. >> that's true. >> so we really have a lot of adjustment to go through here in order to begin to see that, and technology as made it easier and easier to have people work from home, which means it's easier to say i don't need you full-time. i don't think a part-time work force is all that bad, if we say to all corporation, guess what, you have to pay health care for full-time and part-time employees. and then i'll eliminate all corporate tax rates and

corporate tax expenditures at the federal government level so the only tax you have is through health care, and you will see this change around very, very quickly. >> one encouraging sign we have seen lately is an increadecrease in the quit rate. that means they are confident they are secure a new job after they quit. one area where people are finding work is the technology industry. the tech sector has help transform many cities, but the tech world is overwhelmingly male. and hispanic and african american men and women are having an even harder time breaking into one of the most power f engines. >> reporter: it's the middle of summer, but these high school students have opted to stay in code. >> after taking these classes, i

realized it's something that i'm good at and interested in, and i actually really enjoy doing. >> reporter: so the students have taken classes for two summers. they have learned basic coding and have created a video game. jessica is going to show us how it works. >> so in class we learned how to make a game called mall-mash. >> reporter: here tech jobs abound, but women and certain minority groups aren't landing many of them. this program seeks to change the process. here is the problem, take google, by the company's own admission, only 2% of employees are african american, 3% hispanic, and women make up only 30% of the work force. twitter is also predominantly white and male with only 3% hispanics, 1% african-americans, and again, a gender divide where

just 30% of the work force are women. tech companies defend themselves by pointing out the problems that start years before people hit the job market. the college board says that of the 30,000 students last year who took the commuter signs test, less than 20% were female. no one knows exactly why this is the case, but poor public schools in ethnic neighborhoods are less likely to offer computer science courses, and the geek culturetereo type has put off women many say. diversity. >> you are interested in the titles. >> reporter: vivian works at a startup that seeks to change the way hiring decisions with made. she works with this girl who will be a senior worrying about college applications soon. >> i can

see mice running a tech company in the future. >> reporter: change won't happen overnight, perhaps in a few cheers women like this will have a better chance to tyke on tech. coming up next, high rents and high unemployment are forcing young adults to keep living with mom and dad, we'll look at how the new economy are preventing young folks from striking out on their own, and >> a dirty deal. struck at the heart of government. >> egypt mismanaged its gas industry. >> taking the country to the brink of economic ruin. >> it's obvious that egypt was being ripped off. it's basically saying to the israelis, "look if you want to screw us, here's a tool you can use to screw us". >> al jazeera exposes those who made a fortune betraying an entire nation. >> you don't feel that you owe an explanation to the egyptian people? >> no... no...

>> al jazeera investigates. egypt's lost power. december 17th.

♪ here is a new trend in the new normal economy, rising represents and a tough job market are forcing young people to keep living with their parents. the creation of new households is critical for a healthy economy and it's a catch-22 for the economy to fully recover, more young people have to strike out on their own, but many won't

take the plunge until the economy gets stronger that means they are living with mom and dad? a full house. >> reporter: ten feet below ground, behind a curtain in a basement outside of washington, d.c., this 24-year-old spends her night surrounded by all sorts of knickknacks from her childhood. she is at her mom's house. this? >> i think 11 or something. >> reporter: she is one of 18 to 22 year olds in america who are households. >> back in 2007, about 31% of 18 to 32 year olds werelying with their parents, now it's closer to 35%. it's higher than it was in 2009 began. >> pugh center richard fry says her decision affects not only

economy. >> they are setting up fewer households, the rate is down, that has had quite a bit of economic implications. many consumer services are tied household. >> >> reporter: when a person moves out she rents or buys a place, boosting demand for construction and transportation, and buys furniture, power, water, internet, food, electronics, a tv or durables like a washing machine. all of her needs translate into jobs for other people, but she is holding back, waiting for the right time to move. >> it made more sense to be at home and work on building up and saving and getting ready for grad school than to be struggling tries to live down the street. apartments near my school are around $1,800. >> reporter: the u.s. labor department reports a little more

than 11% of people in her age group who want a job can't find that one. >> a movie ticket is like two trips to chipotle. it's not a sigma because we're all doing it, like it just makes sense, and our parents all know that none of us can afford to live outside of the home. >> reporter: there must be sometimes where you wish i could just come home and be by myself. >> once in a while. >> reporter: more than 3 million households never formed in the recession. >> eating and having somewhere both. >> reporter: she says she is determined to move out next year. she is joining the foreign service, but until her first check comes, she is not budging. >> and i'm still at home, yes.

my mother is very patient. there are signs that the tide is starting to turn. in a recent analysis, bark lays found the share of 18 to 24 year olds living with parents fell for the first time since 2005, last year. and a new study from harvard says young people will form 24 million households over the next ten years. that will drive demand for rental properties and starter homes. this man explained why it's so important to the economy for young people toment become home buyers. >> young people always drive the housing market. they are the ones expanding demand. and then we build more houses and sell more goods and services. and without that the overall economy suffers as a result. >> you would think after

the -- the housing crash, prices came down, affordability increased. interest rates at are -- a at all-time loans, but young people have larger student debt than you or i did, weaker employment situation, what is the best homeownership? >> i think it really starts with a job. it starts with them getting that first job, being able to move out on their own, and then to be able to put money in a savings account, to move towards homeownership. we have seen the unemployment rate come down, and i think the first step will be getting the job and the paycheck, and with that we'll have the ability to pay rent and mortgage. >> according to some of your research, 28% of americans who rent their homes, spend half of

their income on housing. that's way higher than most experts. obviously if you live in san francisco on silicon valley, you are going to spend more, but how much should they be spending? >> the general rule of thumb is 30% of their income on monthly house cost. a week's wages for a month's rent. over time it has increased a bit to 30%, so that has long been the standard, and that's built in to a lot of the federal programs. what that leaves is enough left over to be able to afford food and clothing and transportation and all of the other necessities of life. >> i want to show show -- homeownership changes before the great recession, and before they hit their peak. and what it shows here, chris, is the biggest drop in homeownership are occurring amongst young americans.

the largest group is 35 to 44. but those age 25 to 34, homeownership in that category dropped 8%age points. what do you take from this data? >> well, it certainly means a lot fewer people are moving into homeownership at the time. the national rate is down to 65%, there is a 64% that prevailed for much of the 80s and early '90s, so people think we still have a ways to go to get back to what was considered normal. but look at these figures for young people, how far they have come down, and you have to go back to the early '70s to find this kind of rate. so it shows their incomes have fallen, they are carrying more student debt. and most of the research really shows that young people still profess an interest in

ultimately owning a home. >> given the changes in this digital world where everything is disposable? these kids still want to own homes. because we see evidence they don't want to own cars like we did when we were old enough to drive. >> i think it's a question of when. it's when do you expect to own a home? and certainly the recession has made it slower to get that first job, and millennials are marrying later than previous generations. and all of it is being slowed down. so ultimately i think they will have an interest in owning a home, but it will take them longer to get there for a host of reasons. >> we talked to bob schiller about the stock market, but only about half of all americans even own stocks.

far more americans own homes, so there's some degree of importance in encouraging homeownership because it has that health and prosperity effect. >> oh, absolutely. we certainly learned from the housing crash how risky homeownership can be. on the other hand, it's still the case that home equity is incredible force of wealth, and when you look at people who are in their retirement years, it's not just having that wealth in your home, it's having the fact that you own that house free and clear and don't have the mortgage payment, and for a lot of americans, that provides a lot of financial security. >> chris what a great opportunity to talk to you. research director at the harvard joint center for house studies. up next, how the staggering mountain of student debt is effecting the economy.

the ripple effect reaches all of us. continues.

♪ one troubling feature of the new normal economy is the staggering amount of student debt in the united states. it now tops a trillion dollars. the department of education's most recent numbers show about 10% of student loan debt was 90 days delinquent or in default. that's the worst default rate for all household debt. defaulting on student loans can devastate is future borrowers access to credit and harm their job prospects. patricia sabga caught up with one woman who is people. >> reporter: this 34-year-old, working the room at her alumni luncheon. >> any of you have student debt?

>> she just graduated with $26,000 in student loans, a bill she didn't fully anticipate when she originally took them out. >> i didn't really understand that while i was take classes that i was being charged interest on loans; that the loans were due basically out. >> reporter: nor did she know how defaulting could destroy her future plans to study law. >> if you default on student loans and you are trying to go to graduate school, that could anymore. >> reporter: the changers of defaulting are poorly understanding, a recent survey found only 28% of respondents realized failure to repay can result in poor credit, and withholding of tax refunds and social security. only 37% of respondents realized that student debt is nearly bankruptcy.

>> i believe this is up with of the biggest civil rights issues of our time. >> reporter: she is encouraging our fellow alums to fine up for income-based repayment, the government program that allows borrowers to cap their payments at 10% of discretionary income, and avoid a costly default. understanding the consequences of failing to pay back your student loan on time is a good start, but borrowers also need to be aware of the programs that exist to prevent them from falling into default. because companies don't always inform troubled borrowers of all of their options. >> there are over 7 million americans in default on a student loan, and it is very troubling that most of them could have avoided that. >> reporter: this is student loan ombudsman at the student finance protection bureau. >> we don't know how many people

specifically are getting incorrect information from their servicers, but the cfpb does receive thousands of complaints from borrowers about student loan servicing. >> reporter: in the meantime, byars is giving talks and collecting emails with the goal of signing up 10,000 student debtors for services by november. >> trustal of the people that are doing work around student debt, continue to check the website, continue to stay connected to get the best information available to you. >> reporter: patricia sabga, al jazeera, new york. now if you are not in college and you are not supporting someone who is, you might wonder how student debt possibly affects you or the broader economy. that's the very question i posed to this chief economist. >> it slows down the household formation process, which slows

down a lot of other important decisions that take place at aged cohorts in terms of the u.s. economy. as you mature you tend to move from college where everything is about consumer-related goods, to moving towards housing and family developments, which starts to get into household formation and investment spending in basically human capital of your children. and that sets a whole other range of spending, and by trapping people, you are not allowing them to take those next steps, and the net result is that is just delaying those spending problems. >> and yet, we have talked to so many people on this show who have kids or have delayed their education, or are scared into not going into college because they say i don't know what to do afterwards, that's not the answer, because you skill need the good college education. >> you do.

so it shows you need a college education just to do anything. and college has become the new high school. okay? if you want to get reasonable job, now you have to go to college to get your first entry-level job. so if you are saddling people with enormous debt, then more debt through graduate school, they really end up being on the back burner in terms of how they can mature through the phases. >> and i want to go one step further. by the time they are 50 or 55 and they have to pay for their end kids' education, they may not be far enough ahead, so we generation. >> oh, absolutely. so you slow the birthrate, and

household rate, and you wind up getting in a situation where young people don't want to get married, have children, home, or car, then you get into one of these self fulfilling deflation their spirals. >> of the two jobs that are delaying household formation, kids stays at home longer, but the student debt thing is a little bit harder to solve. >> the student debt problem is a huge problem, and the federal government is basically saying to individuals, all right, you don't have to pate. we're just going to extend the amount you get, you are eventually going to pay it, because the federal government doesn't want to eliminate the debt. so you really have to generate high-paying jobs, so they can pay it down ahead of time. and this,

again, gets into tax reform, and restructural forms so you bring back those value-added jobs, and bring education back to where it should be. that it is you are paying for the education, not for the student center, not for the pretty housing, not to live in downtown manhattan, you are paying for the education. >> steve some people say this education debt double is going to burst and be bigger than the housing bubble. you don't their view. it's serious but not as big as house debt. >> no, because at the end of the day the federal government is on the receiving program. and they have a vested interest to make sure their constituents continue to vote for them, so they'll find ways to extend it out. the housing bubble was in the hands of the private sector, and basically the federal government had to bailout the bankruptcy

process, the federal government is not going to foreclose on individuals in terms of student loan debt. the federal reserve bank of new york says the 50 and overcrowd makes up a 30% increase of the debt group since 2005. coming up more savings means more security. but so we'll look at what america's new shopping trends are doing to the economy. that's next on "real money." ♪

>> my name is elenor and for the last 25 years i was bernie madoff's secretary. >> an unimaginable story of betrayal. >> they lived this incredible life. it just never occurred to me that they were living on the dime of the clients. >> greed... >> bernie was stealing every nickel but he wasn't trading anything. >> ... and entitlement. >> you took my grandchildren's future away from them. ♪ the american consumer is tough to figure out but because consumer spending accounteds for about two-thirds of our economy, we spending a lot of time trying to find out what makes the consumer tick, and since the great recession, consumers have

developed a new habit, budgeting. that's generally good news, but as americans pay down their debt and built up their rainy day accounts, spending can slow down. we do have an economy where the consumer determines the bulk of the economic activity that happens and how the economy translates itself over time into darren economy, hot it grows, which sectors grow, which industries do better, which products they choose, all determine where the economy is going to go over time. >> and these consumer decisions have a follow-on impact. for instance, one is we are seeing more people renting, a smaller proportion buying. >> yeah, the amount of economic activity generated on top of single-family homes is

substantially greater than the amount of economic activity generated on top of multi-family structures. if you do 100 homes, you need 100 roofs, air conditioning systems, plumbing hookups. if you do a high-rise, you find out up with a more lateral movement, less piping, less air conditioning, less heating, less smaller. jobs. >> exactly. >> and we talk about people being able to do more with fewer employees. and one place where you see that is in the growth of internet sales. if people are buying more online that's fewer people employed at the stores. and that is likely to continue. >> yes, one or two stores are

making their stores no longer stores. they are basically showrooms. the sales people there do not have product on hand. they go right to their tablet, load your information online, and get shipped directly to your home. so the store has become a showroom, because this way they don't need the inventory and everything that goes along with that. the distribution hubs, the stockers, the cashiers, everything. it reduces the amount of employment and you still be able to touch, feel, and taste the product before you actually purchase it. >> and you like the ability to compare, and sit on your couch and get things delivered to your home. you and i talk about the economy looks stronger, jobs are being created, but wage pressure in some industries is downward.

so you may not earn next year than you did this year. >> yeah, the commissioned salesperson makes more money than the person filling out the information on the tablet. so you wind up with a lower level of income giving to those individuals. so you wind up needs part-time salespeople who don't know as much about the product. they give you the catalog, you look at the product, and then make the decision. people are no longer stocking warehouses. robots deal with warehouses and distribution systems, and this is further eroded into the income that is being generated result. >> and yet we don't want to go backward on these changes. we don't want development because machines take the jobs of people. so what is the solution?

>> the point you are making is we have lowered the price of the product so people can spend more product. >> right. >> but we have lowered their incomes as well. >> right. >> so that gets down to structural tax reform we need to do at the consumer level. one thing is we double tax a lot of net income. we do it in terms of capital gains and sales tax. you. >> i have already paid tax on that money. >> correct. >> likely to the same jurisdiction that is collecting the sales tax. >> as well as to the federal government. so then they are taxing you at the sales point, so one simple thing would be to say there is a zero bracket amount, but for a lot of purchases that doesn't help you.

let's get rid of the zero bracket amount. and this day and age where everything is so computerized and you can keep track of that information, i think that's a simple thing to do, which at the end of the day would allow income. >> let's talk about credit. we were not all that chasened by the great recession. we need people to take and use credit, but at the back of our minds we worry about a little bit about the overuse of credit. what is your take? >> there is 100% concern on my part. because the government was so proactive in trying to make housing available, we wound up upselling the homes.

you wound up spending a lot more on the home per square footage. a similar thing is taking place now is on education. we're now spending $45,000 on education. why? because they put in student centers with jacuzzis, and multimedia centers, and that allows u.s. to boost the price. that leads to consumer debt, which unfortunately the consumer can't pay back the debt. we saw that in housing and we'll see it in student loans as well. high income people recovered very quickly, but for everyone else the effects still linger, making a return to pre-recession spending levels a ways off still. coming up an alarming number

of americans say they are well >> a conflict that started 100 year ago, some say, never ended... revealing... untold stories of the valor... >> they opened fire on the english officers... >> sacrifice... >> i order you to die... >> and ultimate betrayal... drawing lines in the sand that would shape the middle east and frame the conflict today >> world war one: through arab eyes continues episode three: the new middle east on al jazeera america

♪ if you are age 65 or older or will be in the next 15 years, there is some good news, the congressional budget office predicted that the biggest part of medicare will remain financially solvent until 2030.

the main reason is that spending is slowing down. it will be a thousand dollars less per person this year than analysts predicted. obamacare make deserve some of the credit. but the trust fund will run out of cash if we don't find ways to cut costs. in medicaid nearly half of the states have refused to take advantage of a profession in the affordable care act, that forces many to make drastic choices. in tennessee one couple had to choose between healthcare and staying married. robert ray has their story. >> reporter: larry and linda drain have been in live for 30 years. but now they are forced to be separated all in the same of health care.

>> neither one of us like it. we want to be together. >> linda who has life-thre life-threatening epilepsy has been living in shelters. >> shortly after i started getting retirement, social security called us in and money. >> reporter: they fall into a coverage gap, because as a couple their income is too high to cover for tennessee public insurance programs and too low to qualify for federal subsisies. combined they make about $21,000. their separation allows them to keep the care they need. >> if tennessee expanded medicaid, the wife would have continued to be eligible for health insurance. >> reporter: in a statement to al jazeera, the tennessee's governor's office wrote:

this coverage gap affects residents in 24 states that either did not expand ed kayed -- medicaid or are still discussing the issue. why have so many southern states decided not to expand medicaid? >> part of it has to do with the politics. it's obviously a hot bet of administration. >> reporter: politics and policy have taken an emotional tool on the drains. every day for the last five weeks, larry has written a letter to the government asking for help, his message: >> you have a chance to do good and help a whole lot of people. >> reporter: the drains fear they may spend their golden years facing a major delima,

stay apart or stay together and risk losing coverages and the medications that doctors say are keeping linda alive. >> i can't let her die, whatever else has to happen, i can't let her die. whatever it takes, i can't let her die. the law doesn't protect us, the ss played for this couple and thousands of americans falling through the gap. here's an alarming statistic one in five people on the verge of retirement have no money saved for it. that's according to a recent study from the federal reserve. overall about a third of the people surveyed say they have no pension or retirement savings. about 20% of these people are between the ages of 55 and 65 and obviously closer to retirement age. some people said they didn't think about retirement while others don't have enough money to save.

steve and i discussed this troubles dilemma. steve said many are relying on using their home as a nest egg, but that may not be a good idea. >> a lot of what they have done is really the household. the american home has been a staple of the american investment. a lot of americans need forced savings. we tend to be people who when we get money we want to spend it. the house required us to save money. and we're nowhere near the valuations that we were prior to the vie sis in terms of home prices. and as a share, the home has gone from one third down to about 20%. that's a big hit, and that's going to take quite sometime to make up for that lost income. and households have become more cautious because they have seen

any the equity markets blow up, so the amount of money going into equity funds and the growth of money in 401ks has shifted more towards bond funds. so it's harder and harder for consumers to get that kind of retirement. >> so if you were preboomer, you had a job, chances are they were a union job, and they paid you a pension, which means you never had to worry about the market. post boomer, we're not sure what happens to social security. nobody gets a pension these days. and you are in the defined contribution world 401k as you described it. the boomers are somewhere in the middle. where are they? >> they are more 401k. many companies have basically closed their pension system and

moved people into a 401k program. so the amount of pension they accumulated up to a certain point is still with them, but after that they had to move to a 401k. the government is the one area where they still have very, very good pensions, and that's why your state and local taxes are still going through the roof, is because those pensions have to be paid. and they have a very, very high level of pension income. but they are the only two components of the economy that forward. thing? >> no, because we make it easy for people take money out when they need it. so we make it easy somewhat. there were penalties imposed but now we have taken them out. and you have to tribute.

you have to say i'm going to reduce my spendable income today to save for tomorrow. >> and we also are a society which glorified the buying of the house, which as you said, has now hurt us a little bit. we have never glorified saving for requirement. >> well, we used to. look at tv 30 years ago, the donna reid show, very nice american household doing normal nice american things, looking forward to the future, savings, investing. now what do we have in the kardashians. everyone wants to be the kardashians. tv went from steve rooks to lifestyles of the rich and famous to the biggest and most expensive hotels in europe. wealth tv. >> let's take a look at this chart, the number of people age 100 or more will quadruple

between 2014 and 2040 to more than 225,000. the number of people 65 or older who will rely on taxpayers will rise by over 15% over the same period. is this worrisome to you? >> oh, very, very worrisome. because it says you have to extend the requirement age. as economists we have been looking at this for years. the interesting thing is the demarcation point, that's 2014. >> that's right now. >> that's this year. >> until now we have been on a relatively even slope -- >> it was all in the future. the future is now. >> we built a world in which you retired at 65 and lived less than 75. >> correct. >> these are people living to 100 years old. >> correct. >> i guess we should think about people retiring later.

>> yes, but it's politically unacceptable. how do you go back to the 55 -- >> but go to the 40-year-old. everybody 40 and under, you have to work later. >> you can, but you have to go pretty much into the baby boomers to really begin to change the analysis, and that's part of the problem. >> figuring out how much to save for requirement isn't easy which is why most people don't do it. 39% say they spending more time researching what car to buy than what to do with their 401k's. the new normal economy is changing the traditional work schedule. i'll >> consider this: the news of the day plus so much more. >> we begin with the growing controversy. >> answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> real perspective, consider this

♪ >> one thing that hasn't changed in the new formal economy is how hard americans work. we have a well-deserved reputation for being a nation of workaholics. get this americans work a whopping 42 days more than the germans each year, and while americans are among the world's most productive workers, more hours spent working doesn't necessarily mean more productivity that is one reason why more companies are experimenting with a four-day workweek. it has them saying thank god it's thursday.

jen rogers has the story. >> reporter: it's thursday at the online education tech company tree house in portland, oregon. for most companies this doesn't mean anything special. but here thrusts are really fridays. tree house has a four-day workweek. >> wednesday comes around and you start to panic a little bit. like tomorrow is the end of the week. i have got to get stuff done. we have found a huge correlation between working less and being more efficient. if i constrain myself to what i need to get done, there is a huge increase in productivity. >> we know that a work force that is on shorter hours and with flexible arrangements tend to be happier, more loyal, more stable, and all of those things tend to be good for the business bottom line, if you would like. >> worldwide countries that work

shorter hours tend to have higher productivity. take the g-7 countries. germans work way less than other countries, and yet they are one of the most productive. useful. >> reporter: carson says there has been some unexpected benefits. for one people take fewer sick days, leaving doctor's .a points for fridays. and it's a powerful recruiting tool. >> i get angry ceos that accuse of stealing their feem people. >> 36% of companies nationwide workweek. >> it has to come from the ceos or executives or founders, and the trouble is a lot of those folks like working. >> reporter: several cities are

experimenting with the four-day workweek in hopes it mronny in the long term. >> manufacturing, construction and tech companies are more likely to work a four-day, 10-hour workweek. it's easy to think people are slacking, but stakes at free house are high. >> we have had people go, you have to have people that perform here. i think short-term we probably have been hurt a little bit, but we're still growing at over 100% a year in revenue, so i'm okay with that. carson is doing something else that is revolutionary, last year the company got rid of all of its managers, and employees set their own projects, set their own deadlines, and keep each other on track. that's our show for today.

we'll continue to report on the economic changes that affect your life. and if you see something you would like us to report on, give us a shout. >> huge protests around the country calling for police reforms. reverend jesse jackson joins us. and contractors may face illness because of service in afghanistan. "meet the press" host jones -- joins us with a look at his new book on president obama. hello i'm antonio mora, those stories and more ahe