All three major broadcast networks covered on their Thursday evening newscasts the June 2015 jobs report, but it was ABC’s World News Tonight that neglected provide any further details and/or context beyond the unemployment rate and number of jobs added and omitted how hourly wages remained flat and the labor force participation rate sunk to its lowest level in 38 years.
While CBS and NBC chronicled the numerous pitfalls to varying degrees, neither chose to look at why the numbers remained sluggish or assign blame for the state of the economy.
With only 11 second remaining before the first commercial break, World News Tonight fill-in anchor Amy Robach jammed in a short mention of the jobs report: “Well, the nation's unemployment rate falling to its lowest point in seven years. The government reporting 223,000 jobs were created last month and unemployment dropping to 5.3 percent.”
NBC Nightly News devoted just nine more seconds on story, but anchor Lester Holt was able to strike a far different tone in explaining that he had “mixed news to report tonight in the economy” in that:
While new numbers show that employers added a healthy 223,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.3 percent, economists say wages didn't increase at all and more people gave up looking for work, reflecting some discouragement for many in the job market.
Leaving ABC and NBC in the dust on this topic was Thursday’s CBS Evening News as a full report was reserved for the jobs report that ran for two minutes and 29 seconds.
Despite a dip in the unemployment rate to “the lowest in seven years,” anchor Scott Pelley admitted that “it’s a mixed picture” as “hourly wages were flat” and teased senior business correspondent Anthony Mason’s report by telling viewers that he’ll detail how “the unemployment rate fell for the wrong reason.”
Mason began by noting that “[t]he unemployment rate dropped in June, but only because more people dropped out of the workforce” with “[t]he so-called labor force participation rate” tumbling to “its worst level since 1977.”
After he chronicled how the labor participation rate among women has fallen over the past decade and a half, Mason told Pelley that the problem is also seen in the rate among men as “[o]nly 71 percent of men are now participating in the labor force, and, Scott, that's an all-time low.”
Pelley then responded with a follow-up admission to Mason that “we saw yet again in the jobs data today that wages are flat.” Elaborating on that fact, Mason stated that they’ve only risen “[b]asically two percent over the last year” and is “barely above the rate of inflation.”
Taking note of how economists continue to predict when wages will rise and by how much, Mason concluded that “they haven’t” gone up because “employers won't raise wages until they have to get the workers they need which suggests there's still slackness in the labor market.”
The relevant portions of the transcript from the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley on July 2 can be found below.
CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley
July 2, 2015
6:39 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Help Wanted]
SCOTT PELLEY: Today, the unemployment rate fell to 5.3 percent, the lowest in seven years, but it's a mixed picture. The Labor Department says 223,000 jobs were created in June, fairly healthy, but hourly wages were flat and Anthony Mason reports the unemployment rate fell for the wrong reason.
ANTHONY MASON: The unemployment rate dropped in June, but only because more people dropped out of the workforce. The so-called labor force participation rate is now at its worst level since 1977.
(....)
MASON: In 2000, nearly 59 percent of women 20 and older were employed, an all-time high, but since then, that ratio has fallen back to 55 percent.
(....)
MASON: It's not just women who have been withdrawing from the job market. Only 71 percent of men have now participating in the labor force, and, Scott, that's an all-time low.
PELLEY: Anthony, we saw yet again in the jobs data today that wages are flat.
MASON: Basically two percent over the last year, Scott. That's barely above the rate of inflation. Economists keep saying we think this is going to happen, wages are going to start to grow, but they haven't. Basically, employers won't raise wages until they have to get the workers they need which suggests there's still slackness in the labor market.
