In economic news, the latest employment figures show another 20,000 jobs were eliminated in January. Despite this, the nation’s official unemployment rate fell last month from ten percent to 9.7 percent. Labor economists have put the real unemployment rate at 16.7 percent when factoring in the underemployed and those who have stopped trying to find work. President Obama said the latest job report is encouraging.

President Obama: “Now, these numbers, while positive, are a cause for hope, but not celebration, because far too many of our neighbors and friends and family are still out of work. We can’t be satisfied when another 20,000 have joined the ranks and millions more Americans are underemployed, picking up what work they can.”