Washington - US president-elect Barack Obama said in a radio address Saturday that he would sign an economic recovery plan soon after taking office, to create 2.5 million jobs by January 2011.

"We'll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children, and building wind farms and solar panels, fuel-efficient cars and the alternative energy technologies that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead," Obama said in the Democratic Party's traditional radio address.

He called these long-term investments in the country's economic future and "an early down payment on the type of reform my administration will bring to Washington."

An additional 540,000 jobless claims were filed last week, the highest in 18 years. The US economy has shed 1.2 million jobs this year. "If we don't act swiftly and boldly, most experts now believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year," Obama said.

While admitting that there were no quick or easy fixes for a crisis that was many years in the making, he said that January 20, the day of his inauguration "is our chance to begin anew ­ with a new direction, new ideas and new reforms."