No massage of jobs data, says minister

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Employment Minister Eric Abetz has rejected reports his staff told officials to "massage" jobs figures.
News Corp Australia on Monday reported advisers to Senator Abetz wanted 160,000 jobs added to forecasts due this week as the government strives to meet a pledge to create one million jobs over five years.
Labour market analysts within the Department of Employment had originally projected the addition of 838,100 new jobs over five years, a figure the minister's office wanted "scaled up", the report said.
But in a strongly worded statement Senator Abetz denied the claims.
"At no stage did staff in my office request that figures be 'scaled up'," he said.
"At no stage did staff in my office suggest that the department's figures be 'dumped' and replaced with alternative figures.
"At no stage did any staff in my office suggest that figures be 'massaged'."
He says the report was based on "selectively leaked" information and the newspaper did not seek to verify it.
Senator Abetz says the department will publish its annual employment projection figures this week, as intended.
But he stressed the figures would be based on November 2013 data and would not take account of the government's policy initiatives to increase employment.