President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday said he asked his economic team to come up with a recovery plan that will focus on creating jobs through investments in infrastructure and green energy.

“The news this week has only reinforced the fact that we are facing an economic crisis of historic proportions,” Obama said in his weekly radio address, noting that 1.2 million jobs had been lost this year. “If we don’t act swiftly and boldly, most experts now believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year.”

However, Obama said his team would come up with an economic recovery plan that would boost the ailing economy and create 2.5 million jobs.

“We’ll be working out the details in the weeks ahead, but it will be a two-year, nationwide effort to jumpstart job creation in America and lay the foundation for a strong and growing economy,” he stated. “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 argued that his plan would not just provide short-term help.

“These are the long-term investments in our economic future that have been ignored for far too long,” he stated.

“I know that passing this plan won’t be easy,” he added. “I will need and seek support from Republicans and Democrats, and I’ll be welcome to ideas and suggestions from both sides of the aisle.”