sylvia hall reports. >> reporter: some of the biggest names on wall street tell

sylvia hall, "n.b.r.," washington. >> susie: the great recession has sparked a major shift in the

sylvia hall continues our coverage of the housing market. >> reporter: it may not look like much now,but next year, this site will be the swanky home to 314 luxury apartments and town homes, complete with a rooftop pool, garden, and gym. it'one of the many projects fueling a construction boom across the nation's capital. demand for rental housing is rising across the country.on but edward wolyne a v.p. with the company behind this projecta ays it's even more prominent here in washington. >> the district attracts highly rsucated people, renters oit choice, people that enjoy the flexibility of renting and wantc a high-quality housing experience, but want to be able to go ahead and pick up and move if they get a better job offer or they're going to back school r what have you. >> reporter: the city's population has shot up in the past decade. and these days, it gets about 1,000 new residents each month, hst of them young professionalspr so it makes sense that apartment development is moving fast. more than 8,000 apartments are under construction in the city right now.d that's the largest

sylvia hall reports. >> reporter: some of the biggest names on wall street tell washington to get to work and avoid the fiscal cliff. j.p. morgan's jamie dimon, bank of america's brian moynihan and goldman sach's lloyd blankfein joined 13 other c.e.o.s in a letter to congress and the white house. expiration of tax cuts and automatic government spending cuts already has held back businesses, and if the cliff is triggered in january as scheduled, things will get much worse. bankrate's greg mcbride says all americans would feel the pain. >> it's going to put a few million more people out of work, the stock market would tank so everyone with a 401(k) would feel it, and even the people who are still working, they're going to make less money, they're going to have less money, it's not going to be fun for anybody. >> reporter: the bank c.e.o.s also raised concern over the potential for another credit downgrade for america. they said it could lead to higher interest rates. >> higher interest payments would worsen our nation's fiscal burden and likely increase uncertainty and instability in g

sylvia hall, nbr, washington. >> tom: earlier, susie mentioned the challenges of getting around one of the world's largest and most congested cities with no public transportation. city buses began rolling on new york streets at 5:00 p.m. eastern time today, but only partial service and on a reduced schedule. we have more on the work ahead to get new york moving again with erika miller. >> reporter: in new york city, the subway is a lifeline. the transportation network is the center of culture and commerce. in the nation.mo than four milla day go through subway turnstiles, which are part of the largest mass transit system in the nation. the 108-year-old system has never faced a disaster as devastating as this one. it's not just a matter of restoring power and cleaning up sludge and debris. the big unknown is whether salt water will corrode signal and switch systems. fortunately, most of the train cars weren't damaged by the storm, because they were moved to safety ahead of time. but it's unclear when service will be fully restored. when it does, service will come back in stages, with ri

sylvia hall, "n.b.r.," washington. >> tom: half of new jersey remains in the dark tonight. but noose an improvement in the past 24 hours as utility crews work to restore electricity across 16 states. 6.2 million customers have no power according to the latest data from the u.s. department of energy. that's down from more than 8 million without electricity last night. in addition to new jersey, more than 1 in 10 customers in connecticut, new hampshire, pennsylvania, rhode island and west virginia have no power. ny nuclear power plants remain offline with two others operateding to produce capacity. >> we're joined from jupiter florida. what are your colleagues facing lewis? >> they're facing restoration process with a storm that covers so many states and has done so much damage as everybody is seeing on tv. they have many, many lines down, poles down, transformers damaged. substations that are under water, and have to get dried out. equipment vault that is are flooded. they lot of work ahead of them. >> tom: how does a ceo -- how do you begin to prioritize all of that work? >

sylvia hall, "n.b.r.," washington. >> tom: amazon is hanging out its virtual help wanted sign.it plans to add 50,000 seasonal positions this holiday season. now, add those jobs to holiday hires already announced by retailers like wal-mart, target, macy's and toys 'r us, and you've got promises to add nearly half a million temporary positions this year. still, though, employment experts note the american job market is far from pre-recession levels when it comes to holiday hiring. >> susie: microsoft is hoping its new "surface" tablet will be on many wish lists this holiday season. the company said today prices would start at $499 for the 32- gigabyte model. it started taking pre-orders today for delivery on october 26. the surface is the same price as the ipad, but it's one inch bigger than its rival. just as the surface makes its debut, apple sent out media invitations today for its next product debut. and tom, experts are betting it's for an ipad mini. the invite says, "we've got a little more to show you." >> tom: susie, that was enough to jumpstart apple shares. they're up $

sylvia hall, nbr, washington. >> susie: tomorrow, ebay has a big announcement. we'll continue our retail coverage with the president of ebay marketplaces, devin wenig. looks like wall street bankers will be big spenders this holiday season. as ruben ramirez reports, bonuses are expected to be on the high side. >> reporter: most wall street bonuses won't be paid till early next year, but already, many bankers are expecting bigger checks that last year. nearly half of those on the street expect bonuses to be up from 2011. >> people that are managing money, and so that's, for example, hedge funds or people who manage other people's money, those are the places where we saw more optimism. the pessimism we found was in the larger banks. >> reporter: while many say the overall performance of their firm is more important this year, the biggest reason for a larger bonus is still individual performance. some of the biggest outside factors putting pressure on bonuses-- the u.s. economy, dodd-frank, firms trimming pay, and the euro-zone crisis. wall streeters in the glass-

sylvia hall, nbr, washington. >> susie: the future of l >> susie: the future of manufacturing was an important issue in the presidential debate earlier this week. president obama and mitt romney argued about the best way to bring back jobs to american factory floors. many manufactures say they need workers, but can't find them with the right skills. but now, some companies are joining forces with community colleges to change that. diane eastabrook has details. >> reporter: a couple of years ago, acme industries was in a dilemma. orders for precision parts used in oil and gas drilling equipment were flooding into the suburban chicago manufacturer, but c.e.o. warren young was having trouble hiring new employees for the extra work. >> they didn't have the kind of skills that we needed, and our mode was not to hire somebody who didn't know hardly anything. >> reporter: acme's problem led to a unique partnership with nearby harper college. c.e.o. young helped the college develop its new advanced manufacturing program, which trains students for high-demand jobs in automation, machining, me

sylvia hall, "n.b.r.," washington. >> susie: a massive recall from toyota today. the auto-maker is recalling millions of vehicles around the globe to fix a faulty power window switch, that could smoke and catch fire. almost 7.5 million vehicles are being called in globally, 2.5 million here in the u.s. the cars and trucks involved were built between 2007 and 2009, and include the popular camry, corolla and rav-4 models. it's toyota's largest recall since 2010 when more than eight million units were brought in for problems involving sticky accelerator pedals. today's recall comes as toyota was finally re-covering from a series of setbacks, besides those 2010 recalls, inventory problems caused by last year's earthquake and tsunami. so can toyota's reputation withstand another hit? joining us to answer that question is kunur patel, brand strategist at percolate. so kunur, no injuries or deaths with these defects in the cars, but it does make you wonder that will consumers sit back and rethink the reliability of buying a toyota? what do you think? >> well, toyota is a

sylvia hall reports. >> reporter: the college class of 2011 may be fresh out of school, but they've already set a record as the most indebted grads ever. and they owe a lot-- on average, over $26,000. that's up 5% from the year before, according to the institute for college access and success. >> we see hugely different debt levels for those who do borrow at different schools. the lowest we saw was about $3,000 at graduation, and the highest was more than $50,000. >> reporter: student debt also varies with where students go to college. new hampshire, pennsylvania, and minnesota grads had the highest average debt, while grads in utah, hawaii, and california had the lowest. and of course, the interest rate and the amount you pay over the life of the loan varies. >> it's not just how much you owe, but what kinds of loans you have that can really affect how hard to manage your debt may be. if you have federal student loans, you actually have a lot of repayment options, if you're getting good advice at the right time. >> reporter: but the government isn't the only player in the field. private st

sylvia hall, "n.b.r." washington. >> tom: our coverage of freelancers continues tomorrow in new york city. where they're breaking ground on the first medical facility dedicated to freelance workers. we'll show you why it's not like your typical doctor's office. also tomorrow, some big earnings after the bell, microsoft and google. we'll have results. >> susie: if you watched last night's presidential debate, you heard both president obama and governor romney talk about their efforts to help small businesses. but when it comes to creating jobs, tonight's commentator says not all small businesses are created equal. here's "inc." editor-in-chief, eric schurenberg. >> reporter: you may not have a clue about economics, but if you've been listening to politicians this year, you know one thing: small businesses create jobs. clear the way for mom-and-pop owners and we'll be back at 4% unemployment in no time. only problem is, that's wrong. now, small businesses are great, but it should be obvious that putting a dr