Obama says plan would bring 3 million new jobs

Obama Job Plan for 2009!

The president-elect pushes his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, saying half-a-million of those jobs would be created with an investment in clean energy.

By Mark Silva
9:26 AM PST, January 10, 2009

Reporting from Washington — President-elect Barack Obama is upping the ante of jobs promised in the $800-billion economic stimulus program he is proposing.

This week in Virginia, promoting his plan during an address about the urgency of taking action in dire economic times, Obama said that 3 million new jobs are possible within the next few years under his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.

In his weekly radio address today, the president-elect said an analysis shows that from 3 million to 4 million jobs could be saved or created by 2010, nearly 90% in the private sector.

That estimate comes in a week in which unemployment was posted at 7.2% in December, with the total number of jobs lost last year — 2.6 million — the largest number since 1945. Three-quarters of those jobs disappeared in the last four months.

“The jobs we create will be in businesses large and small across a wide range of industries,” Obama said in his address today. “And they’ll be the kind of jobs that don’t just put people to work in the short term, but position our economy to lead the world in the long term.”

Obama is eyeing 500,000 new jobs with an investment in clean energy, committing to double the production of alternative energy in the next three years and improve the energy efficiency of 2 million American homes.

“These made-in-America jobs — building solar panels and wind turbines, developing fuel-efficient cars and new energy technologies — pay well, and they can’t be outsourced,” he said.

The plan will put nearly 400,000 people back to work repairing infrastructure, crumbling roads, bridges and schools and laying down miles of broadband line, he says. Obama has conceded that the price could grow larger as Congress starts working on the proposal.

“Finally, we won’t just create jobs, we’ll also provide help for those who’ve lost theirs, and for states and families who’ve been hardest hit by this recession,” he said. “That means bipartisan extensions of unemployment insurance and healthcare coverage; a $1,000 tax cut for 95% of working families; and assistance to help states avoid harmful budget cuts in essential services like police, fire, education and healthcare.”

Recovery will not come overnight, he warns.

“But we have come through moments like this before,” he said. “I am confident that if we come together and summon that great American spirit once again, we will meet the challenges of our time and write the next great chapter in our American story.”

mdsilva@tribune.com