What new unemployment numbers say about the economic recovery

The unemployment rate for January dropped unexpectedly to 9.7 percent from 10 percent, even with 20,000 jobs lost. The Labor Department says that’s because a survey of households found the number of employed Americans rose by half a million. It is projected that the unemployment rate will hover around eight percent until 2013. All this after the markets closed yesterday at the lowest levels so far this year.

We get analysis from New York Times correspondent Floyd Norris and Elizabeth Williamson, White House correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.