A boost in the latest job numbers could give President Obama a boost in the latest polls, at least if it were up to several local mayors.

"In January, American businesses added another 257,000 jobs," President Obama said Friday.

The nation's overall unemployment rate now stands at 8.3 percent. It was news that brought together the mayors of Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton and Whitehall Township, all Democrats. They gathered in front of the site of a proposed hockey arena in Allentown to celebrate.

"For 23 straight months we've seen in job growth," said Mayor Ed Pawlowski, D-Allentown. "First time in a very long time, seen growth happen over an extended period of time."

Backed by local union workers, the mayors said the president's policies in helping to create jobs is working, but insisted their meeting wasn't a political push for President Obama.

"Our challenges are too great to let another cycle go by without taking real action into the progress we've made," said Mayor John Callahan, D-Bethlehem.

Pawlowski said the progress includes his city's hockey arena project, which is expected to add thousands of jobs, an example of work the mayor said is now being created across the country.

Not to temper the enthusiasm, but a report recently released by the Congressional Budget Office projected the unemployment rate will continue to change, not down, but up to 9.2 percent by next year..

Kamran Afshar, a local economist, said he disagrees with that report and cautiously said the economy is improving.

"Even if this rate continues, it's going to take four or 2-and-a-half years before we get back to where we were in 2007," Afshar said.

The key number for economic improvement, Afshar said, isn't the unemployment rate, but how many people find jobs per month.

"Two-hundred-thousand to me is a good thing. Anywhere close to 400,000 is a great thing," Afshar stated.