Here is President Barack Obama's take on this morning's news that the unemployment rate dipped to 9.7% in January, from 10% in December, but that businesses trimmed 20,000 jobs from their payrolls:

"We are climbing out of the huge hole we found ourselves in."

He added, though, that the news is "cause for hope, but not celebration" because the jobless rate is still high and employers aren't yet adding jobs.