>> tom: it looks like the nation's businesses could soon start adding jobs, but that's not soon enough for the next generation of workers. >> to find a job, for me, would be a very big accomplishment. it would help boost my self esteem a lot. >> susie: we look at the surprisingly high level of teen unemployment. you're watching "nightly business report" for thursday, april 1. this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by:

this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening. a lot of anticipation tonight about tomorrow's important employment report. susie, from the white house to wall street to main street, the

expectation is that companies were hiring in march and that we'll see real job growth. >> susie: tom, some economists are predicting about 200,000 jobs. if that happens, that would be the first gain for this year. >> tom: but one sector of the labor market is unlikely to see much improvement, and that's teen hiring. suzanne pratt takes a look at just how tough it is for those who are unemployed and underage. >> reporter: it's easy to dream about summer on a day like this. but many teens worry something big will be missing from their summer plans-- a j-o-b. >> i've been looking for a summer job ever since i have my working papers. i've been trying to find a job anywhere. >> it's very concerning for a lot of people. there are just not enough jobs and too many people who need them. >> reporter: and it's not just summer jobs that are lacking-- the teen unemployment rate currently stands at a hefty 25%. that's more than double the nearly 10% rate for all workers.

the problem is that older people are snagging jobs that typically go to teens. those include positions in retail, construction and hospitality. job prospects for 16- to 19- year-olds are unlikely to improve anytime soon. competition will remain steep as baby boomers and even seniors stay in the workforce longer. a recent survey by the job search site snagajob.com found almost half of managers don't plan to hire seasonal workers this summer, despite an improving economy. that's about the same as last years 46%. snagajob's steve kimball says it's one of the toughest times for teens in a decade. >> even as the unemployment rate starts to drop nationwide, the teens are always laggards in that process. they are the last to be hired. >> reporter: today, teens rallied in front of new york's city hall, demanding continued public funding for summer job programs. last year, the government's massive stimulus plan helped

support more than 50,000 summer jobs for youths in new york city. this year, because of cuts in funding, suzanne lynn from the department of youth and community development says the city can only offer about 18,000 jobs. >> we know that people who worked as teens are more likely to have stable employment as adults and to earn more over their lifetime. >> reporter: and for many teens, getting employment also goes way beyond putting money in their pockets. >> to find a job, for me, would be a very big accomplishment. it would help boost my self esteem a lot. >> reporter: suzanne pratt, "nightly business report," new york. >> susie: here are the stories in tonight's n.b.r. newswheel: wall street kicked off the month of april with solid gains. the dow rose 70 points, the nasdaq added four, and the s&p 500 was up eight. those gains came on light volume ahead of tomorrow's market holiday. the nation's factories are starting to hum again. the institute for supply

management says its manufacturing index jumped last month, the fastest pace in almost six years. in a separate report, the commerce department said february construction spending hit its lowest level in eight years. the main problem-- a still struggling real estate sector. still ahead-- stock investors may not get as much back from the markets as they hope in the years to come. randall eley, president of the edgar lomax company, tells us why. he's tonight's "market monitor." >> tom: toyota marches back, while ford and general motors share in the gains. here's a rundown of march's car and truck sales. toyota played comeback kid-- sales rose 41% on hefty incentives after the recalls. aggressive incentives also boosted sales at ford motor, up 40%. and at g.m., march sales were up 21%. the numbers are exaggerated by easy comparisons to last year, when the recession was in full swing. but chrysler is still struggling

to gain traction-- sales there fell 8% last month. >> susie: auto dealers are still counting on a blockbuster spring selling season. consumers are back in showrooms, and it looks like they're ready to buy again. but as diane eastabrook reports, the economy is still the wild card. >> reporter: they're back. consumers flocked to dealer lots last month, thanks to warmer temperatures, a string of incentives, and optimism about the u.s. economy. tom bavone is seeing a complete change in customer attitude at his ford dealership. >> they talk about their jobs are doing well. they feel more secure in their jobs and they seem happier, you know. it's better than it was a year ago. >> reporter: it certainly couldn't get much worse. last year, auto makers experienced one of the worst years ever. u.s. sales plunged 30% from 2008 levels. rising unemployment and tight credit got most of the blame. but with the new year came an improvement in consumer confidence and auto sales. >> people have been buying

camrys, carollas, hybrids... >> reporter: toyota dealer dennis pecho says last month was his best march ever. toyota offered 0% financing on most products after sales plunged earlier this year after the recall of eight million vehicles for sticky accelerators. pecho thinks the accelerator fix, coupled with the incentive, encouraged customers to buy again. >> i think there were some folks that held off in february just to see how toyota was going to react with what kind of incentives, how they were going to solve the issues. and once they saw the solution and the incentives, i think they reacted positively. >> reporter: the optimism spread this week to the new york auto show, where volkswagen rolled out its first hybrid. v.w.'s president and c.e.o. of north america hopes last month's sales momentum will continue when the tuareg hybrid hits showrooms this fall. >> we need to have showroom traffic. we need consumers who really wish to buy new cars. >> reporter: still, j.d. power economist jeffrey schuster is

cautious about a recovery. >> you know, any time you have an unemployment rate near 10%, that's going to be a problem. we really need to see those workers back to work before we can see a robust recovery in the economy, as well as auto sales. >> reporter: schuster is encouraged by march sales, but he says it will take several more months to know for sure if this is an industry recovery with real traction. diane eastabrook, "nightly business report," hodgkins, illinois. >> tom: speaking of cars, the nation's auto makers are going to have to squeeze more miles out of a gallon of gas. the e.p.a. and transportation department today signed off on new fuel standards. they require auto makers meet a fleet-wide average of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. that is a 42% jump from current standards. the change will add roughly $900 to the cost of a new car or truck by then.

>> susie: health reform has just become law, but already, hospitals, doctors, and businesses are working on the next phase of reform-- better ways of delivering care and improving public health. pricewaterhouse coopers has just completed a major report on this and will release the results next week. joining us now with a preview-- dr. david levy, a physician and the leader of the firm's healthcare research institute. hi, david, welcome to nightly business report. >> thank you very much. pleasure to be here. >> well this is a huge

report to let's get right to it. you say in the report that there will be significant business model changes and that technology is going to be used in a big way to improve access to care. tell us more about that. >> well, for the first time this year as opposed to some of our previous reports when we survey patients all over the world including the united states t was pretty clear that they felt that they them efs were really in charge of their own ill,. and that really is something different because in the past reports what we saw was we felt that government payors, insurers and providers and hospitals and doctors were more responsible. but what that really means is that the health care economy is now looking look the rest of the economy, ie parents are going to be at the centre of the university and the entire health-care system is going to start to be moving around and serving patients in a pleatly new and different way. >> and this goes beyond what we have been hering a lot about electronic medical records, in your report are you talking about a lot of

health care delivered outside of the hospital through your cell phones, on the internet and things like that. tell us more. >> that is what we call a phenomenon that we call care anywhere. what we are seeing is now patients all over are starting to want to have their health care addressed not just in hospitals. not just in doctor's offices but literally being accessed at home through telehealth through their cell phones, through information, through text messages, lab data to their in any way, shape and form. even internet consultations with their physicians. really the way care is being rendered is changing dramatically. >> now let's talk a little bit more about the individual being in charge. you talk in your report about being patient focused. much more innovations in consumerism. it looks like the new buzzword is going to be health care literacy. what can we expect there? >> well, another interesting finding was that today as opposed to just a few years ago patients accessed the internet more for medical

knowledge than they do their own physicians. this is a tremendous change. and we really think that this is going to be combined with all new, many new ways of looking at how to access information with respect to health, disease, illness, treatments and chronic care. and so that's all different. we've never seen this before in the history of the health-care industry. >> and as a result of that we're going to see a lot more new jobs not just for doctors and nurses and traditional health-care providers but you're talking about patient navigators. health care educators, care coordinators. so sounds like this is going to be a great sector to get skills for new jobs. >> absolutely. well, health care is always resilient anyways as you well know it has been effective because of the increase in chronic illness and increasing needs in society for taking care of patients with chronic illness. but as we look at the increasing demands, particularly in the u.s. of aging populations, there is no question that there is going to be more opportunity for new kinds of jobs to help patients navigate the

system to help them get engaged and to help them really pursue different courses of therapy that they would not have otherwise been able to do without these tremendous revolution technology and access. >> what does all this mean for costs. is this going to bring down the cost of health care or does it mean higher costs. real quickly, we have just a few seconds. >> well, in the end more people are going to be needing care but when you wire up the system, it really means that cost and quality now become addressable. so just like the rest of the economy, we have hopes that as things get connected we're going to understand where the waste is and that there is going to be a lot of new players in there trying to address that waste. so we're pretty bullish on that. >> well, it is a fascinating report. we're going have to get you back to talk more about this. thank you so much. >> pleasure is mine, thank you. my guest david levy pricewaterhousecoopers. >> tom: today's slim gains were led by energy, with oil rallying to a new 18-month high while technology was the laggard. let's get a look at tonight's "market focus."

overall, a decent week for the bulls with the fifth straight weekly gains for the major indices. the dow industrials may have failed to breech the 11,000 mark this week; still, the index was up seven-tenths of a percent. the nasdaq put in the slimmest gains of the three, up three- tenths of a percent. and s&p 500, the leader of the three, with gains of 1% over the past four sessions. today, technology was the laggard. semiconductor maker micron weighed on the sector, and it was the most actively traded nasdaq stock. shares of m-u fell about 2%. its quarterly results were better than expected, but it was "sell the news" with the stock dropping. data storage stood out in the weak tech market with xyratex drawing buyers. this is a half-billion-dollar market capitalized company that sells its data storage devices to computer hard drive

manufacturers. the stock hit a new 52-week high during the session, after the dual surprise of a better than expected earnings report and outlook. the stock jump you see in early march was when it raised its guidance. competitor net app saw buying, as well. its earnings call hasn't been scheduled, but is likely more than a month away. earlier, diane reported how auto sales shaped up in march. with the bounce, auto part stocks saw buying. t-r-w auto holdings led the pack, hitting a new intraday 52- week high. tenneco is within a dollar of a new high. borgwarner and arvin meritor also are in that camp of less than a buck away from new highs. meantime, used car seller car max saw strong traffic on its lots in the fourth quarter, resulting in better than expected profits and a strong stock rally. k-m-x shares have doubled in the past year. but despite seeing a 10%ain in

the average selling price of its used cars, the margins at car max actually fell. some interesting volume spikes with a trio of international focused exchange traded funds. beginning in taiwan, the e.t.f. that follows that market saw a nice rally to a two and a half month high on three times average volume. the united kingdom e.t.f. saw five times average volume on its gain. and the switzerland e.t.f. also saw five times volume, rallying to a new high closing price. all of this as the u.s. dollar hit a two week low. this may be a holiday-shortened week, but there were four new issues to come to market. the biggest of the bunch may be a familiar name-- primerica. it was carved out of citigroup at $15 a share. wireless network firm meru hit the street on wednesday at $15 and has had a nice run. s.s.&c. technologies is a financial service tech firm. it also came out at $15. and oil tanker operator scorpio tankers made its debut on

wednesday at $13 per share. and that's tonight's "market focus." >> tom: with trillions of dollars in government spending on the books and consumers trying to dig out from a mountain of debt, tonight's "market monitor" guest is dialing back his expectations for the stock market. he's randall eley, president of the edgar lomax company, an investment advisory firm based in springfield, virginia. and welcome back to nightly business report. >> good to see you, tom. >> so before we talk about expectations from stock market returns what kind of

shape do you think the balance sheet is in for the government and for households? >> it's getting worse. but starting from a strong point, so we're still the richest country in the world. and that gives us a lot to work with. at least though we do see some light at the end of the tunnel. household debt has been declining over the last year and a half. and that's new in the last, for some number of years. over the last year, for example this is 2009, we've actually seen household debt fall about 237 billion which is just under 2%. >> how do you think the u.s. consumer is doing as we enter the second quarter of 2010 though? >> i think individually they are getting stronger by having-- by borrowing less and therefore saving a bit more. however, though, we're doing it by shifting much of what would be individual accumulation of debt on to the government's balance sheet. in 2009 the government actually increase its debt about 1.6 billion which is 15%.

yet nominal gdp grew less than 1%, we can't keep that up forever. >> what about the implication for stock investors what about the expectations. >> as the government works on getting its balance sheet in some sort of order, there is little doubt in my mind will you see earnings growth will be slower on the part of corporations and i'm talking beyond the next quarter. and long-term that means that the return on stocks will most likely be less than the 10% we come to expect. >> let's take a look at the returns on a quartet of picks that you provided back in the middle of october of 2009. chevron is down by 2/10 of a percent with its stock price. wal-mart stores returning better than 8% for investors had they purchased back on october 16th. at&t and merck a couple of will will will test test test

test test test test test test for mpt, great programming, coming up next.