This is real money, you are the most important part of the show. Tell me what is on your mind by tweeting me or hit me up on facebook. Im feeling confident about the future. Im not alone. The u. S. Job market strength is leaving americans feeling more confident about the economy than at any point in the last seven years. Here is how i know. An index of Consumer Confidence compiled by the private Research Group, the Conference Board jumped in july to the highest level since october 2006. That is before the Great Recession. This is a big deal. Its the third stwraght monthly straight monthly gain in confidence, a good sign for consumer spending, responsible for twothirds of the economy. Theres no doubt that it is a key ingreet yet in fuelling growth. Its ingredient in fuelling growth. Its apparent as to how people pay or dont pay for their purchases. A third of American Adults have debts passed on to collection agencies. The youre wan institute. A urban institute, a washington theping tang. Says the think tank says the fact that mane americans have Many Americans have debt is alarming. The overall percentages of americans with collections hasnt changed. We want to know why the rate is high. And what the implications of unpaid debt are for you, the consumer. Barry snow has the story. Reporter the number of americans with debt in collection is shocking. That number includes credit card holders well past due on payments, generally more than 180 days. Worse, many of these consumers dont realise they owe money. It could be from a magazine subscription, gym member shop. And if you change Bank Accounts or credit card and dont realise this that act has been on there, it can fall into collections. Student loans and hospital bills are frequently overlooked. Especially copayments or bills a patient believes insurance covered. The average of debt owed is over 5,000. It can vary by person, from 25 to 125,000. In some instances outstanding payments are so small collection agencies let them go. Those unpaid bills can mean big trouble on a Consumer Credit reports. A lot of organizations use Credit Reports to determine insurance rates, whether theyll extend you a loan, and some employers use it, it can make life more expensive and difficult if you dont have a good credit score and having things in collection drags the score down. According to the institute, delinquent debt is concentrated in the south, where 40 of those with credit are in collections. The authors say stagnant incomes in the region are to blame. This financial spiral can be difficult stating for a family and a community. The good news, consumers can learn what is on the Credit Report before its too late. Once a year, the United States is entitled to a free Credit Report. Its the only government sanction site where consumers get each of the three bureaus for free. Now, all debt is not created equal. You can argue that its better to take out debt to pay for an education or a home, than it is to run uch debt on a credit card. Theres interesting conclusions about where people are taking on more good debt versus bad debt. An Analysis Shows higher income metro areas have more mortgaged debt. Thats thought of as good debt. Nonmortgaged debt, including debt and collection is higher in less av lupt bluecollar areas, according to richard florida. Author of rise of the Creative Class, and the director of the Martin Institute in the university of toronto. I asked about the implicationsism. The urban Research Group did a good job. Few have studied differences in debt. They looked at this overall, you know, that 35 of people that have debt and collections, but also across met rose, you see this on metro, you see it on the map. What is interesting, 26 of the top 100 metros have more than 40 of people. A place like los angeles, jacksonville, have half of their population with debt and collection. Correlating to places with high foreclosures, where they are hit, to the equity in the home collapsed. What is interesting, theres a difference between total debt, including the good debt to pay for an education, to take on a good mortgage, versus bad debt to pay off a credit card, go on a buying binge, go on a trip tore pay for medical bills or a financial emergency. What we found looking at the data and subjecting it to Statistical Analysis is that the good debt. The mortgage debt, was a characteristic of a hightech metro. A boston and washington d. C. The bad debt was a characteristic that Consumer Credit card debt, going on a debt was a characteristic of a place with not a lot of jobs. Is metro like we mentioned, that was hit by the housing crash. Its a tale of two americas, except told not only in who has rising numbers, and rising votes, who has debt and is faltering and falling behind. You are in a place where, you know, lets look at mortgage debt relative to income. The darker blue areas where people are carrying mortgaged debt relative to income. You see more relief from that. Again, this is this a this is one of those things that if you have debt and collections, you are not going to get a mortgage, and you are not going to get one at a good rate. One intriguing finding that we came up with. I assumed that the higher the mortgage that was to income, the worst off the metro, the city would be. Actually there was a higher debt to income ratio in prosperous places. Its because people have high incoming, they have disposable incomes. They can tolerate a higher mortgage and have money left over. It was the nolle prosequi mortgage debt nonmortgage debt to income that was focused. Highly correlated with lagging places. What do you do about it . Does the research give you a sense of how you are supposed to address this. This stuff holds the economy back. This is the stuff that keeps us bifurcated. The wealthy, those not saddled by debt, by homes, and stocks the things that make you richer. And they buy homes in smart place, the global superrich, where are they buying. New york city, San Francisco, on the cost of l. A. , not inside, on the coast in miami, up in toronto, vancouver. Theres a limit on land supply. I think, you know, the vig story is big story is we are a nation addicted to debt. You know this better than i do. Americans have to understand that they a debt is not a way of living. Thats the big difference between americans and canadians. Americans really believe that they can live on a credit card, using their house as a piggy bank, and i think the lesson of this study is too many of us still think that even with the Great Recession, you know, you would have thought this would have cured it. The real thing is americans have become, in a way, overdependent, and addicted to debt. Thats an interesting story. Always a pleasure to see you. For those of you out there who have not read the book, the rise of the Creative Class is definitely worth a read. Help wanted at a restaurant near you. We tell you about a restaurant shortage and how it can affect you. The economy may be doing better. Dont tell that to the 18 million households that have trouble putting food on the table. Well show you how busy food banks are in the countrys biggest city. Americass Food Industry employees many. The industry say they need hundreds of thousands of servers, bartenders, cooks and greeters. Competition is growing. We have a report on why the shortage is growing and how some position themselves to increase earnings. Reporter when this restaurant needs more staff, they turn to this woman. In charge of getting graduates jobs. When they call you what do they say . Send me bodies, send me people. Reporter she is poised in one of the best job markets for managers, servers, greeters and cooks, in years. Government figures show as of may 2014 there are 660,000 openings in the food service industry. That is more than 200,000 job increase over the same time last year. More than half of those openings are from line cooks and servers. Tell me if you need gig. Reporter the shortage of workers has been rising when there was a mere 260,000 openings. The shortages are having a greater effect on casual dining restaurants. The upper income brackets, because of the stock market, and wages at that level, are doing better and they are going out a little more. Theres more restaurant sales in the higher end, and that creates more demand. Reporter since the recession most income gains have gone to people earning 70,000 or more. This is a longtime restaurant critic saying the diners demand Higher Service and superior body food. You cant come in off the street and cook. The audience for the cooking is too sophisticated. Getting a first restaurant job is tough. With two years of experience, workers can command higher wages and stable schedules. However, higher wages does not mean 6figure salaries. How much were you making at that time . I made in the mid 40s. I was running the restaurant as a top business to make money. Reporter Industry Experts say restaurants increased winter games and benefits to lure in talent. Some offer retirement plans and sick leave. Compensation is low compared to the economy. U. S. Workers earn 25 an hour. Food Service Workers earn about half that. That income disparity keeps the talent supply down. Restaurants complaining about shortages are in big cities like new york, San Francisco and seattle. The wages are often not high enough to allow this class of worker to live by themselves in the cities they cook. To live in the city you need to pick up extra shifts or find some people work multiple jobs. Reporter many are ditching the restaurant world and bringing themselves to higher paid jobs, like nursing home, food tech, home delivery, marketingforms and Food Development marketing terms and Food Development companies. Reporter the better idea is to pay people extra money, chris floyd says its not possible. He recruits in washington d. C. Restaurant groups and hotels pay a tonne of money, that would be great. Then all the consumers would pay more. So your 9 burrito would be 15. I dont know if the economy can stand for that. In the meantime restaurants are banking on students like amanda, who says working at a restaurant is just as much about the experience as about the cash. I know that i will make not a lot of money and im okay with that. Thats what the deal is. Well higher winter games and an increase wages and an increase in the minimum wage are a key to a turn over plaguing the industry, making the industry worse. Thats the view of the National Research director at the Restaurant Opportunity Center yooupted, which advocates for workers rights. And has Training Programs to get workers in highend jobs. I asked about higher wages forcing restaurants to raise prices. High wages would lead to slight price increase, if it was passed to the consumer. Theres different wages by state. Theres minimum wage laws that vary by state. Theres several that dont have a tip and wage, an hour for barr tenders and servers and other tipped workers. Seven states where every tip workers arns the same min earns the same minimum wages the rest of the work place and they have higher restaurants. Theres not a clear association. Explain why it wouldnt be negatively impacted . Theres a couple of reasons. One is if you raise wages, you raise it across the economy, people spend more on immediate goods and that includes going out to eat a lot more. People who work in the industry really enjoy spending time out in restaurants. They have more money, theyll spend a lot there. The supplies for others as well, not just workers in the industry. It has to do with productivity, and turn over. Productivity increases when workers are receiving higher wages, and turn over decreases, its a huge cost. If you run an establishment and bring in workers not happy with low winter gamages, they have tn new workers. It reduces restaurant sales. How much of this problem, this shortage in restaurant workers has to do with turn over. The idea that youll change your job any time something at your current job upsets you . I think its an increasing problem. We saw that during the recession when the Restaurant Industry was an area of the economy that grew. We saw that the turnovers increased. People were afraid to lose their jobs. They did everything to stay in them. Now that the economy is picking up. People are not as concerned. They are likely to look for better paying opportunities. This Culinary School is not a cheap way to do things, particularly when you hear a lot of graduates will not earn much money in the field in the first place. Premarketers tell you the best place to solve the shortage is that rates will increase, whats the solution here . Theres a couple of things that restaurants can do, one is raise wages, theres no reason why they cant do that. Another thing they can do is look at developing career ladders within the industry. We place people into jobs in fine dining positions, and conduct tests where we see who it is that apply, and who gets offered jobs, even though they have the same qualifications, and we see disparities around race and gender preventing people from getting entire paying positions. Theres opportunities for restaurants to focus on more training and work for development within establishments and build career ladders so people see their future within the restaurant, and that expands the level of knowledge and productivity within the establishment. The career ladder is important because someone thinks they can have a lifestyle in the career. Great to talk to you. A National Director at Restaurant Opportunity Centers united. Next the Unemployment Rate in the United States is falling. The number of americans relying on food banks is not. We examine why 15 of the patients going hungry each night, and what can be done to reduce it. This past week we saw a sign that the overall economy is growing. G. D. P. Rose 4 in the second 3month block of this year. Thats what makes the n number you are about so hear more striking, roughly 15 of the u. S. Population or 18 million homes in america do not have enough money to put food on the table. A u. S. Department of the agriculture report found that while the Unemployment Rate improved, the number of homes struggling to get food is largely unchanged since the recession. Youd thing in one of the wealthiest stays in the country putting food on the table is less of an issue, as marie snow found out, thats not the case. Reporter its a weekday morning in new york city. A line forms before doors open at the east harlem food pantry. The people waiting ranges from Young Mothers to older people on fixed incomes. They belie the signs of comming growth, like the highrise residential building this went up. In the pantry the numbers needing good is growing. Deborah chapman felt the difference in the four years shes been coming here. This year, instead of coming half an hour before i should come an hour or two before. Reporter one big reason more are relying on charities to eat is because they had their food stamps cut. Congress cut 5 billion from snap, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme in 2013. Because of that, new york common pantry, serving 3 million meals annually reports a 26 increase in recipients in the last year. Executive director says snap cuts are part of the story. The biggest story is the number coming to the pantry swelled. Since 2008, we have doubled more than doubled the number of meals that we served, including the number of people we served the meals to, since that time. The biggest jump is the number of people who are working. So people in that are bussing the tables, working in pharmacy, supermarkets, people have are home attendants, home help aids, individuals that cant make enough to make ends meet because of the cost of living. Reporter it comes as the wealth of new york city, the worlds Financial Capital is growing. New york ranks four in a recent survey of cities around the globe with the highest percentage of millionaires. Joe berg says as the city is wealthier, demand at the 1,000 plus food kitchens is increasing. The demand goes up, represent is the single greatest cost that low income people face. If they cant afford to pay represent, they cant afford to find food. One in six new yorkers live in homes where they cant afford enough food, and points to east harlem as an example of new york as the wages rise. The economy has been recovering at the top. Theres never been a bigger disconnect between how wall street and main street is doing. Home here in east harlem are suffering mightily. Even if jobs are starting to trickle back, many of them are parttime, many of them are poverty. And with Less Government aid for food, the strap is on shorties to fill the void and depend on donations to feed new yorks hungry. Whether its in new york or anywhere in the country, the face of hungary is the working poor. Thats the view of janet, an activist and policy director. New york city policy center at new york citys hunter college. We spoke and i asked her about the changes she is seeing now when it comes to people needing food. If you look at what happened to the value of the minimum wage over the years, you get a little insight into that. It is, indeed, a lot of the people who work in the Food Industry who are most impacted by the low the low wages, and the tipped minimum wages will blow the regular minimum wage. If we go back to 1968 and look at the minimum wage then, if you updated that for inflation, it would be at 10 90. And the federal government, the administration is proposing 10 and a quarter, coming up against a deal of resistance from some parties. Let talk about food insecurity. What does that mean. You earn income, but you dont know if you have enough money to put food on the table. Its experimental. It asked people if they have gone without meals, if they reduced the size of their meals. Its measured through a set of questions. What it gets at are people who cant count on feeding their families on a regular basis. They have to skip meals. Adults cut back to leave food available for the children. Its a substantial percentage of the United States population, as you mentioned. Its about 15 of the population. One in six people, one in six homes. Thats fascinating. Rising rents are a big problem. Do you think its more than that . I think there are different Economic Conditions that impact low income people. In new york rents are a key drive, in rural parts of the country, where people are dependent on using an automobile to get too and from employment. Every time gas prices go up. Theres less money for food. Food is the flexible element. You wouldnt have thought that. Its true. The represent has to be paid. You have to pay the food. You can cut back on food, you can squeeze, go to the food pantry, theres no rent pantry. Lets talk about the solutions to this. We see charities stepping in. Is that the answer or do the state and federal governments or municipal governments have to take a look at the fact that we have this large a per cent of people food insecure. All governments need to step up to the plate and accept responsibility. I dont know that the answer is a government food pantry as opposed to a private food pantry. The snap programme is a crucial part of the federal safety net, the programme called food stamps. As seen during the height of the recession, there were 48 million americans making use of it. That is a terrible thing, but its a good thing that it was there for people. Government needs to recommit to snap by raising the benefit level. Some of the suffering that food pantries are reporting has to do in a reduction. Snapbenefit level. Janet is the author of bread lines kneedeep in wheat. Starting tomorrow ill take a weeklong look at something called the new normal. Much has changed in the years since the Great Recession hit. Americans are getting used to the fact that they have changed for good. Im talking about things like jobs, housing, spending and student debt. Thats real money with ali velshi, week nights at 7 00pm eastern and 4 00 pm pacific. That is the show im ali velshi, thank you for joining us. In southern tajikistan a family gathers for a celebration. 19year old nafisa is getting married. It should be a day of joy yet like many marriages here its tinged with sadness. Her groom, farruk, is getting ready to take on new responsibilities