U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday new jobs figures showed the United States was climbing out of the "huge hole" created by the recession but he cautioned that the data would fluctuate in the months to come.

The jobless rate fell to 9.7 percent in January from 10 percent in December. Obama called that encouraging, but he said it was not cause for celebration.

"Understanding that these numbers will continue to fluctuate for months to come, these are welcome if modest signs of progress along the road to recovery," he said after a meeting with small business owners near Washington.

"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," he said in Lanham, Maryland.

Obama said it was encouraging that the job-loss figures were better compared to the same period a year ago.

"It is encouraging that job loss in January was a small fraction of what it was a year ago and that the unemployment rate last month went down and not up," he said.

Reuters