READING, Pa. -

As the national unemployment rate reaches its lowest level in three years, local leaders are touting efforts to create more jobs.

"It's very encouraging, and we've seen similar results on the county and state level as well," said Pa. Sen. Judy Schwank, D-Berks Co.

Mayor Vaughn Spencer, D-Reading, held a news conference in City Hall on Friday to discuss job growth in the greater Reading area and what is on the table locally so more people can start collecting a paycheck.

The Pennsylvania Labor Department on Tuesday announced that the unemployment rates in both Reading and Berks County dropped in December to 11 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively.

Reading's jobless rate stood at nearly 14 percent in early 2009, then the highest of any city in Pennsylvania.

Spencer said things are improving, and he touted local efforts to get more people employed.

"We're bringing recycling back to the city, which has been outsourced to an outside company, which will bring jobs back to the city," said Spencer. "As far as potential new job data, we're seeing that there is the potential for 12,500 new jobs for this area."

Many of those jobs, Spencer said, will come from plans to develop the old Reading outlet buildings.

"They plan on using all local contractors that will provide work, and there will be retail space in the building that will bring local jobs," said Spencer.

The national unemployment rate now stands at 8.3 percent, declining for the fifth straight month.

Employers across the country added 243,000 jobs in January, far more than economists expected. It's the most impressive surge for the job market since early last year, labor officials said.

The January jobs report also revealed that the economy added 200,000 more jobs in 2011 than first thought.

Pa. Sen. David Argall, a Republican, said he wants to see a long-term solution from the president and not a month-to-month plan.

Schwank agreed more work needs to be done.

"I think we'll have to continue to work on multiple fronts to keep this momentum going, but it can be done," said Schwank.    

Even with the gains, the job market faces a long way back to full health. The nation has about 5.6 million fewer jobs than it did when the recession began in late 2007.

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