In short and simple words..
Load average is the number of processes waiting for processing each clock cycle (CPU). The first number is 1 minute average, the second is 5 minute average and the last is 15 minutes average.
In general it is basically advised to have less that 1 per-cpu - so if you have a 2 cpu server, its advisable to have a load average of less than 2 (especially in the long run).
More than 1 per cpu means that there are processes that are waiting in queue to be processed and that is "inefficient".
BUT I would add this - what matters is the response time of your servers - NOT the load average. Load average may be an indication of load problem but I know servers who run very well with load average of 6 per cpu and even more. Measure your key requests response time - and if you are satistied, its good enough.
Your numbers seems ok though notice your 1 minute is lower than the 5 - which means "now" its better than the average (maybe your server was busy doing something). If you have 2 CPU its good enough. If 1 cpu - can be better..
Trying to solve load problems and reduce load average is always a good thing but you have to know what it is that raises the load average.
