MIAMI (CBSMiami) – President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats got good news from the unemployment report Friday morning.

According to the Labor Department, the unemployment rate in January dropped to 8.3 percent. That’s the lowest rate in roughly three years.

Based on the numbers, private employers added 243,000 jobs in January, which was the most in nine months.

Locally, the unemployment rate in Florida has also ticked below 10 percent for the first time in more than a year in December.

January’s unemployment numbers from the state won’t be released for another couple of weeks.

Over the past three months, employers across the country have added roughly 201,000 jobs per month, or 50,000 more jobs per month than in the same time a year ago.

In addition, much of the hiring was taking place in higher-paying industries. Numbers were also revised and showed 200,000 more jobs in 2011 were created than initially thought.

If President Obama is going to get re-elected, the more months he can continue to show positive job growth, the better his re-elections chances will become.