THE NEWS WRAP: Shorten lauds latest unemployment figures, but critics not impressed

The Federal Government has hailed the latest unemployment figures, despite an economist claiming the 5.4% jobless rate is a “middle of the road” figure.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released yesterday showed that total employment rose 10,700 to 11.523 million in October, with 18,700 full-time jobs created.

Employment Minister Bill Shorten called the result a “standout achievement” given the global economic conditions but JP Morgan Australia chief economist Stephen Walters told News Ltd: “It’s not a terrible number, but it’s not a great number. It’s sort of middle of the road.”

Twitter accounts compromised

Thousands of Twitter accounts have been compromised, with many more having their passwords unintentionally reset.

Some users have had their tweets deleted, while others have been hijacked by spammers. However, Twitter refused to explain the size of the problem or who was to blame for it.

“In this case, we unintentionally reset passwords of a larger number of accounts, beyond those that we believed to have been compromised,” it said in a statement.

“We apologise for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused.”

Labor to study Obama playbook

The ALP will closely study the election victory of US President Barack Obama to help with its own federal electoral chances, according to The Australian Financial Review.

Leading Gillard government figures have reportedly spoken to the Obama campaign to gain insights into how to defeat the Coalition at the next federal election.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 74.73 points, or 0.57%, to 12,858. The Australian dollar dropped to US104.07 cents.