Obama-stimulus plan can add and save up to 4 million U.S. jobs

By Deborah Charles

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama said on Saturday an analysis of his stimulus proposals showed that up to 4 million U.S. jobs could be saved or created by 2010, nearly 90 percent of them in the private sector.

Obama said previously his estimated $800 billion (£525 billion) plan to lift the country out of a yearlong recession would create or save 3 million jobs, but the new analysis showed that number would range between 3 million and 4 million.

"The jobs we create will be in businesses large and small across a wide range of industries," Obama said on his weekly radio and Internet address. "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."

The analysis was submitted by the head of Obama's council of economic advisers, Christina Romer, and Vice President-elect Joe Biden's chief economic adviser, Jared Bernstein.

It came just after official figures showed U.S. employers slashed more than half a million jobs in December, pushing the unemployment rate to 7.2 percent and bringing the number of jobs lost last year to 2.6 million -- the most since 1945.

Obama's top aides visited Capitol Hill on Friday to allay lawmakers' concerns about his proposal, which would combine tax cuts, aid to states and public works projects. He has faced opposition from Republican and Democratic lawmakers over the plan because of its high cost and proposed tax cuts.

Obama said his plan would create nearly 500,000 jobs by investing in clean energy, by committing to double the production of alternative energy in the next three years and by improving 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.