Employers added 157,000 jobs last month and 127,000 more jobs were created in November and December than previously reported, the Labor Department said. Revisions performed each January to the prior year's data showed the labor market was healthier in 2012 than initially thought.

While the unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 7.9 percent, the closely watched report showed an increase in hourly earnings and solid gains in construction and retail employment.

The U.S. added 114,000 jobs in September, causing the unemployment rate to slip to 7.8 percent—a figure not seen since January 2009, when President Obama first took office. There were other unexpected nuggets of good news, too: numbers for July and August were revised upward to show 86,000 more jobs created than previously reported. The numbers could have a crucial effect on the presidential election, in which Mitt Romney has been running on the weak economy.

Total employment rose by 873,000 in September, a significant jump that could help explain the drop in the unemployment rate.

This is also the first report to be released since the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced it had undercounted employment for the previous year by 386,000.

Read the full report at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

During a segment on Tuesday criticizing the Obama administration for its messaging on the economy, a Fox & Friends graphic claimed that the "real unemployment rate" had increased from 7.8% in 2009 to 14.7% now.

However, the graphic -- which showed the rate nearly doubling since Obama took office -- was actually comparing today's "real unemployment rate" with 2009's official unemployment rate.

After being presented with the Fox graphic, Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham said: "Other than Fox News, where are you really seeing those statistics?" Indeed, who else has faux news?

The most recent official unemployment rate is 8.1, which is only 0.3 percent higher, and not nearly enough to lead to mass right-wing nut hysteria on the internets.

The so-called "real" unemployment figure, which also includes part-timers looking for full-time work, currently stands at 14.7 percent and has been steadily declining for the past three years.

When Media Matters pointed out this inconvenient fact, "Fox & Friends" hosts, Brian Kilmeade and Gretchen Carlson, were forced to acknowledge their *cough* "mistake."

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