Early in the 7:00 a.m. ET hour, ABC’s Good Morning America excitedly hyped projections that the April jobs report about to be released would show that the U.S. economy added one million jobs, however, when the actual abysmal numbers were released a short time later, the broadcast never found time to update viewers with the bad news.
“Now to the American economy possibly turning a corner,” co-host Michael Strahan proclaimed just minutes into the show. He then touted: “Weekly jobless claims falling to the lowest level since last March as the latest monthly jobs report comes out this morning, bringing more positive signs with it.” The headline on screen hailed: “Bouncing Back?; Blockbuster Jobs Report Expected This Morning.”
Chief economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis happily announced: “Yeah, and that’s why it’s positive, because we’re seeing layoffs starting to really fall here and we’re just an hour away from the official U.S. jobs report for the month of April, where economists believe that the economy added one million jobs.”
She emphasized that it “would be the strongest month of job recovery since August last year” and “the fourth consecutive month where we have seen these gains, and in particular gains in areas like leisure and hospitality – bars, restaurants – putting people back to work as many places re-open fully from the pandemic.”
Only briefly did Jarvis mention economic warning signs, including how the Biden administration’s decision to pay people not to work was causing a major hiring shortage: “Still, in that leisure and hospitality area, if you’re a restaurant or a bar or a café worker, 3.3 million fewer jobs today than there were in February of 2020....And then, of course, those enhanced unemployment benefits in some cases outweighing larger than the job compensation itself.”
The reporter explained that “we need to see seven more consecutive months of job gains like this [one million] in order to get back to full employment.” Strahan replied: “Alright, we’ll take every bit of good news we can get, though...until that happens.”
At 8:30 a.m. ET, while GMA was still on the air, the Labor Department released the actual jobs numbers, showing only 266,000 jobs were created, a wildly disappointing figure nearly 75% less than projected. Amazingly, the morning show never bothered to bring Jarvis back on the show to discuss the awful economic news.
ABC wasn’t alone in ignoring the devastating jobs report. NBC’s Today show and CBS This Morning completely ignored the clear evidence that excessive unemployment benefits being handed out by the government were causing a nationwide hiring crisis.
GMA’s unfounded optimism was brought to viewers CarMax and Old Navy. You can fight back by letting these advertisers know what you think of them sponsoring such content.
Here is a full transcript of the May 7 report:
7:09 AM ET
MICHAEL STRAHAN: Now to the American economy possibly turning a corner. Weekly jobless claims falling to the lowest level since last March as the latest monthly jobs report comes out this morning, bringing more positive signs with it. Rebecca Jarvis has more this morning. Good morning, Rebecca.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Bouncing Back?; Blockbuster Jobs Report Expected This Morning]
REBECCA: Good morning to you, Michael. Yeah, and that’s why it’s positive, because we’re seeing layoffs starting to really fall here and we’re just an hour away from the official U.S. jobs report for the month of April, where economists believe that the economy added one million jobs. That would be the strongest month of job recovery since August last year. That would also be the fourth consecutive month where we have seen these gains, and in particular gains in areas like leisure and hospitality – bars, restaurants – putting people back to work as many places re-open fully from the pandemic.
Still, in that leisure and hospitality area, if you’re a restaurant or a bar or a café worker, 3.3 million fewer jobs today than there were in February of 2020. And one of the biggest challenges for employers right now is filling some of the jobs that are open. Millions of Americans, some of them still concerned about the virus itself, going back to work. Child care is a huge issue, with a number of schools still not in person, parents can’t take the jobs that might be available. And then, of course, those enhanced unemployment benefits in some cases outweighing larger than the job compensation itself. Michael, we need to see seven more consecutive months of job gains like this in order to get back to full employment. Michael?
STRAHAN: Alright, we’ll take every bit of good news we can get, though, Cecilia – I mean, Rebecca, until that happens.
