Some good news on the jobs front:

The United States economy gained momentum in January, adding 243,000 jobs, the second straight month of better-than-expected gains.

The unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent, giving a cause for optimism as the economy shapes up as the central issue in the presidential election. The Labor Department’s monthly snapshot of the jobs market uses a different survey, of households rather than employers, to calculate the unemployment rate.

It still has a ways to go, but it is going in the right direction. If this trend continues we could see it back in the 7% range by summer. That would be a really great boost to help President Obama.