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Obama Raises US Jobs Estimate

10 January 2009

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama says his economic recovery plan is projected to save or create between three and four million jobs by the end of 2010.

In his weekly radio address Saturday, Mr. Obama says more than 90 percent of those jobs are likely to be in the private sector.  The remainder are expected to be public sector jobs that will be spared from state and local budget cuts.

Earlier this month, Mr. Obama said his economic stimulus plan would create or preserve up to three millions jobs.

Barack Obama
Barack Obama
The president-elect says the new figures come from an analysis on the job impact of his recovery plan.  Mr. Obama says he ordered his economic team to conduct the study so that Americans can see what his plan will do for them and the faltering economy.

In the report, Mr. Obama's economic advisors warn the estimates are subject to significant margins of error because they are based on a hypothetical economic package.

The report says Mr. Obama's plan will put more than half a million people to work on clean energy initiatives and another 400,000 on repairing the country's roads, bridges and schools.

The president-elect says Friday's announcement that the country lost half a million jobs in December alone is a "stark reminder" of how quickly Washington must act to revive the economy and create jobs.

Mr. Obama's proposed stimulus package also includes an extension of unemployment insurance, health coverage and tax cuts for most Americans.

Aides to the president-elect say the plan could cost $775 billion. 


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