Civilian Conservation Corp

2009-02-01T13:37:00.000-08:00

Blue Mounds

Latrine
Builder: WPA
Architect: O. Newstrom
Date: 1939-1942

The Latrine is a 32' x 18' gable roofed structure that follows a standard design used in many state parks. However, the building is one of the most striking visually in the state park system because of the bright rose-colored quartzite used in its construction. Stone walls, 5'9" x 9'6", extend from the sidewalls to form entrance screens. Each screen is 5' high. Paired 6-light casements are placed on both principal facades and are separated by rough clapboard siding. Three 6" x 8" lookouts project from each gable and four 6" x 10" openings pierce the sidewalls to provide ventilation. The building still retains its original plank entrance doors. In 1964, the interior was remodeled and skylights were added. Although construction was begun in 1939, the Latrine was not completed until 1942, due to difficulty in obtaining WPA funding.

Upper Dam
Builder: WPA
Engineer: Division of Drainage & Waters
Date: 1938

The Upper Dam consists of a 61' spillway and a 65' dike constructed of stone that blends with the existing quartzite along Mound Creek. A stone abutment is constructed on the west side of the spillway and extends 200' in the form of a riprapped dike with a 50' stone core wall. An 18" sluice gate is placed at the base of the spillway.

The dam was constructed through the cooperative efforts of the Works Progress Administration, the Emergency Relief Administration, and the Minnesota Department of Conservation.

2009-02-01T12:57:00.000-08:00

Rustic Style

By 1933, when the National Park Service first sent work groups to Minnesota, a design philosophy called National Park Service Rustic Style had emerged as the standard for state park development. The design philosophy insisted on emphasizing natural features rather than man-made ones.

Rustic Style buildings were designed not to call attention to themselves but to blend with the natural environment. They were constructed with whatever materials were locally available and often have a hand-crafted appearance.

Minnesota's Rustic Style resources tell the story of its land. Log construction took place in the northern portions of the state, where timber was plentiful. Stone buildings were more typical in the south and northwest. A combination of log and stone is common in the central section of the state. Minnesota stonework includes limestone in the south; basalt rock and sandstone in the east; colorful quartzites in the southwest; granite and gabbro near Lake Superior; and fieldstone in the west, north and northwest.

2009-01-22T21:14:00.000-08:00

We chose to clean a CCC/WCA building because we believe as we move forward as a country, we also need to look back in history to the "New Deal" era. This particular building is also going to be used as a warming house for a "Candlelight Cross-Country Skiing, Snowshoe, and Hiking Event" at Buffalo River State Park. We are going to continue this activity and clean other CCC/WCA buildings in the park on Memorial Day and Labor Day, and again next year to honor Dr. Martin Luther King

My children were able to join me for this event honoring Dr. King, and they both worked hard shoveling snow, cleaning floors and windows. The Park Rangers were also very helpful in getting us to the building with their GEM electric car made in nearby Fargo, ND.

We are hoping that there will be more people helping us in the next events, but it happened to be a pretty cold and windy day in Fargo, and the other families that had signed up to help needed to cancel.

2009-01-20T19:20:00.000-08:00

Rustic Style Resources in Minnesota State Parks

Minnesota's state parks contain a variety of historic properties.Twenty-two parks contain Rustic Style resources that are listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.

The Rustic Style historic resources in Minnesota state parks are local expressions of a nationwide philosophy of park development. They are significant for their association with the history of the federal relief programs of the Depression era, the history of the state park system, and the history of architecture and landscape design.

The Rustic Style buildings and structures listed on the National Register display thoughtful design and precise craftsmanship. They are a legacy of the Depression-era work groups, whose efforts helped preserve vast areas of wilderness and created remarkable buildings and structures of lasting value throughout the United States.

Two of the most popular and successful federal relief programs created in the early 1930s were the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). In the few years of their existence, CCC and WPA crews made enormous advances in designing and constructing both state and national parks. By some estimates, the work done by these groups moved conservation and park development ahead 20 years.

Although some Rustic Style resources existed in Minnesota state parks before federal work groups began to arrive in 1933, most of those listed on the National Register were built by WPA or CCC crews. These programs provided the skilled and unskilled labor that constructed park buildings and a variety of other structures and also carried out extensive landscaping plans in the parks.

Click on the name of a park to learn more about its Rustic Style historic resources.

Blue Mounds State Park
Buffalo River State Park
Camden State Park
Charles Lindbergh State Park
Flandrau State Park
Fort Ridgely State Park
Gooseberry Falls State Park
Interstate State Park
Itasca State Park
Jay Cooke State Park
Lac Qui Parle State Park

Lake Bemidji State Park
Lake Bronson State Park
Lake Carlos State Park
Lake Shetek State Park
Minneopa State Park
Monson Lake State Park
Old Mill State Park
St. Croix State Park
Scenic State Park
Sibley State Park
Whitewater State Park

The information about Rustic Style buildings and structures in Minnesota state parks has been adapted from National Register of Historic Places nomination forms written by Rolf Anderson. The images are representative of Rustic Style historic resources constructed in Minnesota state parks. Photos were taken by Rolf Anderson, Patricia Murphy and the State Historic Preservation Office staff. They can be found in the SHPO collection at the Minnesota Historical Society.

Rustic Style

2009-01-20T19:19:00.000-08:00

Itasca State Park
National Register Listing:
May 1973; May 1992 update

The Itasca State Park CCC/WPA/Rustic Style historic resources include 45 contributing buildings, 16 contributing structures, 11 contributing objects, and one contributing site.

These resources are located within Itasca State Park, which encompasses Lake Itasca, the official source of the Mississippi River, and a scenic area of northern Minnesota that has remained relatively unchanged from its natural state. The park includes 157 lakes covering over 3,000 acres, as well as 27,500 acres of upland and 1,500 acres of swamp. Most of the area has a heavy growth of timber that includes stands of virgin red or Norway pine, some of which are over 200 years old.

The development of recreational facilities in the park began in 1905 with the construction of Douglas Lodge, the first Rustic Style building in the state park system. Subsequent construction over the next 20 years added 12 more Rustic Style buildings to the park.

With the Rustic Style already firmly established, the federal work programs of the 1930s continued the tradition when they began large-scale recreational development in the park. Development was undertaken by two CCC camps as well as two WPA transient camps. Architects for this later development were from the Minnesota Central Design Office of the National Park Service with Edward W. Barber and V.C. Martin serving as principal architects for the park buildings. Log construction was generally used because timber was easily available in the area.

The park’s historic resources include:

East Entrance
Entrance Portals
Entrance Pylon

Douglas Lodge Area
East Contact Station
Drinking Fountains
Douglas Lodge
Cellar
Stairway
Nicollet Court
Dormitory
Clubhouse
Cabin 11
Old Timer’s Cabin
Forest Inn
Latrine
Stone Curb
Multiple Cabin
Cabins 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12
Pump House

Preacher’s Grove
Retaining Wall

Turnbull Point Trail Shelter
Trail Shelter

Bear Paw Campground
Campground Registration Building
Stone Curb
Pump House
Cabins #s 1-6
Pump House
Stone Steps
Comfort Station
Drinking Fountains
Combination Building
Ice & Wood House

Civilian Conservation Corps SP-19 Camp Site
Pump House
Fechner Plaque

Incinerator

Park Headquarters
Old Park Headquarters
Water Tower
Headquarters Building
Stone Curb
Superintendent’s Residence and Garage
Power House
Warehouse
Water Tower

Mississippi Headwaters
Drinking Fountains
Bath House and Shelter
Stone Steps
Museum
Foot Bridge
Pageant Grounds Latrine
Water Tower
Concession Building
Mississippi Headwaters Dam

Lake Ozawindib Cabin

Lake Ozawindib Transient Camp
Foreman’s Quarters
Pump House
Footing and Foundations

Elk Lake Transient Camp
Mess Hall/Shelter
Staff Quarters

Historical Significance

Itasca State Park Rustic Style historic resources are historically significant for their association with the development of recreational facilities in the oldest permanent state park in Minnesota. Itasca was also one of the first state parks in the United States. Created by an act of the Minnesota Legislature in 1891, the park was established to preserve the historic Headwaters of the Mississippi and to "maintain intact, forever, a limited quantity of the domain of this commonwealth, seven miles long and five in width, in a state of nature." This was the first action by the state to provide recreational areas, protect natural and geologic features of the Itasca Basin, and preserve some of the largest stands of virgin Norway and White pine in the United States.

Architectural Significance

Itasca State Park Rustic Style historic resources are architecturally significant as the largest collection of log-constructed buildings in the state park system. Constructed over a 37-year period from 1905 through 1942, these Rustic Style buildings include many of the finest log structures in the state.

The park contains the first examples of Rustic Style state park design and the largest concentration of Rustic Style buildings that predate the Depression Era. These structures represent a remarkably diverse and well developed collection of buildings featuring irreplaceable labor-intensive construction and finely crafted detailing.

The Landscape Architecture for Itasca State Park is significant as one of the most comprehensive park designs from the period which successfully incorporated new expansion and construction with the existing Rustic Style buildings of the park.

Park History

Evidence of people in Itasca dates back 8,000 years. They lived in permanent settlements and hunted, trapped, harvested wild rice and buried their dead in mounds located adjacent to the Headwaters.

The story of the European discovery of the headwaters began more than 300 years before the park was established. Spanish and French explorers traveled the Mississippi River looking for the river’s head and at least six claimed the honor of discovering it. It remained for an American, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, to claim discovery of the true source of the country’s greatest river.

Schoolcraft first visited the upper river in 1820 as a member of an exploring party headed by Gov. Lewis Cass of Michigan. Cass was satisfied that he had found the source of the Mississippi in Cass Lake, but Schoolcraft did not agree. He believed that it lay farther to the southwest, and he privately resolved to return some day to find it. His opportunity came 12 years later when he joined an expedition in June 1832. Guided by Ojibwe leader Ozawindib, Schoolcraft reached Lake Itasca one month later and raised the American flag on the island which today bears his name. Schoolcraft coined the term Itasca from the Latin phrase veritas caput, or "truth head."

By the late 1800s, Minnesota's logging era was at its peak and many companies moved north in search of prime timber. The Headwaters were threatened with deforestation when Jacob Brower, a land surveyor and historian, began his heroic battle to establish the park. Brower became Itasca's first superintendent and devoted the last 14 years of his life to acquiring land for the park and enhancing its beauty until his death in 1905.

1905 also marked the year of the construction of Douglas Lodge, a pivotal development in the park's history. The Lodge is significant as the oldest building in the state park system and the first example of Rustic Style design. The building is also significant for is association with the first major development of recreational facilities in a state park.

During the next 20 years more Rustic Style buildings were constructed. The buildings range from the Clubhouse, one of the most unusual rustic buildings in the state, to the finely crafted Old Park Headquarters.

CCC Camp SP-1 was the first state park CCC camp approved in Minnesota and was assigned to Itasca State Park. The camp occupied a site just north of the park beginning on June 27, 1933. One of the camp’s more notable projects was the construction of the Old Timer’s Cabin built in the summer of 1934. The cabin was the first CCC-constructed building in the park and it represents a spectacular example of Rustic Style log construction with walls only four logs high.

Transient relief camps located at Lake Ozawindib and Elk Lake were also involved in the expansion of the park. Workers from these camps improved trails, built bridges and worked on reforestation and landscaping.

CCC camp SP-1 closed in 1937 and was replaced by CCC camp SP-19. One of the projects the CCC workers constructed, the Forest Inn, is one of the largest buildings in the state park system. CCC camp SP-19 closed on July 15, 1942, the last Civilian Conservation Corps state park camp in the United States

2008-11-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

2008-11-22T06:52:00.001-08:00

Civilian Conservation Corps

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

CCC workers constructing road, 1933.

CCC workers at Rocky Mountain National Park, 1933

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a work relief program for young men from unemployed families, established on March 21, 1933, by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As part of Roosevelt's New Deallegislation, it was designed to combat unemployment during the Great Depression. The CCC became one of the most popular New Deal programs among the general public and operated in every U.S. state and several territories. The separate Indian Division was a major relief force forNative American reservations.

Initial opposition to the program was primarily from organized labor, but as the unemployment rate fell, so did the need for the CCC.^[1] The CCC lost importance as the Depression ended; and following the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan in 1941, national attention shifted away from domestic issues in favor of the war effort. Rather than formally disbanding the CCC, the 77th United States Congress ceased funding it after the 1942 fiscal year, causing it to end operations.

[edit]Establishment

Civilian Conservation Corps at an experimental farm in Beltsville, Maryland in 1933.

Roosevelt proposed conservation work as unemployment relief during the 1932 presidential campaign. Senate Bill 5.598, the Emergency Conservation Work Act; was signed into law on March 31, 1933. On May 7 Roosevelt extolled the CCC in a fireside address on the radio:

"First, we are giving opportunity of employment to one-quarter of a million of the unemployed, especially the young men who have dependents, to go into the forestry and flood prevention work. This is a big task because it means feeding, clothing and caring for nearly twice as many men as we have in the regular army itself. In creating this civilian conservation corps we are killing two birds with one stone. We are clearly enhancing the value of our natural resources and second, we are relieving an appreciable amount of actual distress."

[edit]Administrative roles

The Labor Department's role was to enroll unemployed civilians (mainly men) as participants in the famed program; the actual camps were operated by the U.S. Army, using 3,000 reserve officers who became camp directors. Each camp had a federal sponsor, usually the Departments of Interior, Agriculture or Army Corps of Engineers, including the subordinate agencies: National Park Service, Bureau of Forestry, Soil Conservation Service, General Land Office, Office of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Reclamation, the Grazing Service, and the Bureau of Biological Survey. The sponsor provided the project supervisor and hired the trained foremen necessary, called "LEMs" (Local Experienced Men), who in turn trained CCC apprentices. Each camp had an educational advisor provided by the Office of Education.The Army provided chaplains and contracted locally for groceries, fuel, and equipment and for medical services. The Army gained valuable experience in handling large numbers of young men, but there was no obvious military drill or training in the camps until 1940, and the work projects were primarily civilian in nature.

Each enrollee earned at least $30 per month—with the requirement that $25 of that be sent home to family—and by 1935 the CCC was promoting about 13% of enrollees to act as leaders (at $36-45 per month). The program cost about $1,000 per year per full-time enrollee. Total expenditures reached $3 billion during the life of the program. Peak numbers came in August 1935 with 505,000 enrollees in 2,650 camps. Over 4,000 camps were established in all 48 states and in the Hawaii and Alaska territories, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The first camp was at George Washington National Forest in Virginia.

Within a week the Labor Department organized a National Re-Employment Service for CCC recruitment; later the CCC handled its own recruiting through local welfare boards. The usual requirement was that the boy's father had to be registered as unemployed. The first CCC enrollee entered on April 7, just thirty-seven days after Roosevelt's inauguration. Young men aged 18-25 (and a certain number of destitute war veterans of any age) enrolled for six months, with the option of enrolling for another six months, for up to two years. There was little penalty for leaving early, and the "desertion" rate was 1-2% per month. In a short time there were 250,000 enrollees working in CCC camps, plus 25,000 armed services veterans in special CCC camps, and 25,000 LEMs. By the time the CCC disbanded in 1942, over three million men had participated in it. Administrators held African-American enrollment at about 10% of each period's total.

[edit]No job training

There was serious concern about the CCC from the American Federation of Labor which feared it would be a job training program. With so many union construction workers unemployed, a new job training program would introduce unwelcome new competition for scarce jobs. Roosevelt promised there would be no skills taught that would compete with established unions, and he named labor leader Robert Fechner to run the CCC. After observing the new standard 8-hour day and 5-day work week at manual labor, the enrollees could, if they wanted, attend evening classes at different educational levels to study subjects ranging from college-level U.S. history and civics classes to basic literacy. Skilled courses such as motor repair, cooking, and baking were also taught, and LEMs took apprentices in forestry and soil conservation.

[edit]CCC life

Although at first intended to help youth escape the cities, city boys were reluctant to join, and most enrollees came from small towns and rural areas. The corps operated numerous conservation projects, including prevention of soil erosion and the impounding of lakes. The CCC constructed many buildings and trails in city parks, state parks and national parks that are still used today, including the 4,000 seat stone amphitheater[1] for the Mountain Play. Other projects of the CCC included installation of telephone and power lines, construction of logging and fire roads, fence construction, tree-planting, and even beekeeping, archaeological excavation, and furniture manufacture. The CCC also provided the first truly organized wildland fire suppression crews and planted an estimated 5 billion trees for government agencies such as the United States Forest Service.

CCC camps in Michigan; the tents were soon replaced by barracks built by Army contractors for the enrollees.

Members lived in camps, wore uniforms, and lived under quasi-military discipline. At the time of entry, 70% of enrollees were malnourished and poorly clothed. Very few had more than a year of high school education; few had work experience beyond occasional odd jobs. The peace was maintained by the threat of "dishonorable discharge." There were no reported revolts or strikes. "This is a training station we're going to leave morally and physically fit to lick 'Old Man Depression,'" boasted the newsletter of a North Carolina camp.

The total of 200,000 black enrollees were entirely segregated after 1935 but received equal pay and housing. Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes pressured Director Fechner to appoint blacks to supervisory positions such as education directors in the 143 segregated camps.

Initially, the CCC was limited to young men age 18 to 25 whose fathers were on relief. Average enrollees were ages 18-19. Two exceptions to the age limits were veterans and Indians, who had a special CCC program and their own camps. In 1937, Congress changed the age limits to 17 to 28 years old and dropped the requirement that enrollees be on relief.

[edit]Indian Division

The CCC operated an entirely separate division for Native Americans, the Indian Emergency Conservation Work, IECW, or CCC-ID. It brought Native men from reservations to work on roads, bridges, schools, clinics, shelters, and other public works near their reservations. The CCC often provided the only paid work in remote reservations. Enrollees had to be between the ages of 18 and 35 years. In 1933 about half the male heads of households on the Sioux reservations in South Dakota, for example, were employed by the CCC-ID. Thanks to grants from the Public Works Administration (PWA), the Indian Division built schools and operated an extensive road-building program in and around many reservations. IECW differed from other CCC activities in that it explicitly trained men to be carpenters, truck drivers, radio operators, mechanics, surveyors, and technicians. A total of 85,000 Natives were enrolled. This proved valuable human capital for the 24,000 Natives who served in the military and the 40,000 who left the reservations for war jobs in the cities.

[edit]Disbandment

Although the CCC was probably the most popular New Deal program, it never became a permanent agency. A Gallup poll of April 18,1936, asked "Are you in favor of the CCC camps?"; 82% of respondents said yes, including 92% of Democrats and 67% of Republicans.^[2]

The last extension passed by Congress was in 1939. After the draft began in 1940 there were fewer eligible young men. Beginning in May 1940 the program began a shift toward national defence and forest protection. When war was declared in December 1941, most CCC work, except for wildland firefighting, was shifted onto U.S. military bases to help with construction there. The agency disbanded one year earlier than planned, after Congress voted to cut off funding for the CCC entirely after June 30, 1942. The end of the CCC program and closing of the camps involved arrangements to leave the incomplete work projects in the best possible shape, the separation of about 1,800 appointed employees, the transfer of CCC property to the War and Navy Departments and other agencies, and the preparation of final accountability records. Liquidation of the CCC was ordered by Congress by Labor-Federal Security Appropriation Act (56 Stat. 569) on July 2, 1942; and virtually completed on June 30, 1943.^[3] Liquidation appropriations for the CCC continued through April 20, 1948.

Some former CCC sites in good condition were reactivated from 1941 to 1947 as Civilian Public Service camps where conscientious objectors performed "work of national importance" as an alternative to military service. Other camps were used to hold Japanese interneesor German prisoners of war. After the CCC disbanded, the federal agencies responsible for public lands administration went on to organize their own seasonal fire crews, roughly modeled after the CCC, which filled the firefighting role formerly filled by the CCC and provided the same sort of outdoor work experience to young people.

[edit]The Corps movement today

A CCC pillowcase on display at the CCC Museum in Michigan.

The original CCC was closed in 1942, but it became a model for state agencies that opened in the 1970s. Present day corps are national, state and local programs that engage primarily youth and young adults (ages 16-25) in community service, training and educational activities. The nation’s approximate 113 corps programs operate in 41 states and the District of Columbia. In 2004, they enrolled over 23,000 young people. The Corps Network, originally known as the National Association of Service and Conservation Corps (NASCC) works to expand and enhance the corps movement throughout America. The Corps Network took shape in 1985, when the nation's first 24 Corps directors banded together to secure an advocate at the Federal level and a central clearinghouse of information on how to start and run "best practice"-based corps. Early support from the Ford, Hewlett and Mott Foundations was critical to launching the association.

Another similar program is the National Civilian Community Corps, part of the AmeriCorps program, a team-based national service program to which 18- to 24-year-olds dedicate 10 months of their time annually.

[edit]Student Conservation Association

The CCC program became an inspirational model for the creation of team-based national service youth conservation programs such as theStudent Conservation Association (SCA). SCA founded in 1957, is a nonprofit organization that offers conservation internships and summer trail crew opportunities to more than 3,000 people each year. The SCA mission is to build the next generation of conservation leaders by inspiring lifelong stewardship of the environment and communities by engaging high school and college-age volunteers in hands-on service to the land. SCA program is active nation-wide in the USA, including national and state parks, forests, wildlife refuges, seashores and historic sites. SCA National Headquarters is located in Charlestown, NH with regional offices across the country.

[edit]E-Corps

Established in 1995 Environmental Corps (E-Corps) is an American YouthWorks program which allows youth, ages 17 to 28, to contribute to the restoration and preservation of parks and public lands in Texas. The only conservation corps in Texas, E-Corps is a 501(c)3 non profit based in Austin, Texas, which serves the entire state. Their work ranges from disaster relief to trail building to habitat restoration. E-Corps has done projects in national, state and city parks.

[edit]California Conservation Corps

In 1976, the Governor Jerry Brown of California established the California Conservation Corps. This new program differed drastically from the original CCC as its aim was primarily youth development rather than economic revival. Today it is the largest, oldest and longest-running youth conservation organization in the world.

[edit]Montana Conservation Corps

The Montana Conservation Corps (MCC) is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a mission to equip young people with the skills and values to be vigorous citizens who improve their communities and environment. Each year the MCC engages more than 120 corps members in service projects. Collectively, MCC crews contribute more than 90,000 volunteer hours each year. The MCC was established in 1991 by Montana's Human Resource Development Councils in Billings, Bozeman and Kalispell. Originally, it was a summer program serving disadvantaged youth, although it has grown into an AmeriCorps-sponsored non-profit organization with six regional offices that serve Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota. All regions also offer MontanaYES (Youth Engaged in Service) summer programs for teenagers who are 14 to 16 years old.

[edit]Washington Conservation Corps

The Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) is a subagency of the Washington State Department of Ecology. It employs men and women 18 to 25 years old in an outreach program to protect and enhance Washington's natural resources. WCC is a part of the AmeriCorpsprogram.

[edit]Minnesota Conservation Corps

The Minnesota Conservation Corps provides environmental stewardship and service-learning opportunities to youth and young adults while accomplishing conservation, natural resource management projects and emergency response work through its Young Adult Program and the Summer Youth Program. These programs focus on the development of job and life skills through conservation and community service work.

[edit]Southwest Conservation Corps

Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC) is a non-profit employment, job training, and education organization with locations in Durango andAlamosa, Colorado, and Tucson, Arizona. SCC formed as a merger of the Southwest Youth Corps and the Youth Corps of Southern Arizona.

SCC hires young adults ages 14 to 25 and organizes them into crews focused on completing conservation projects on public lands. Corpsmembers work, learn and commonly camp in teams of six under the supervision of two professional crew leaders.

2008-11-22T06:43:00.001-08:00

Obama Targets 2.5 Million New Jobs in 2-Year Economic Stimulus

By Jason Gale

Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama said he aims to create 2.5 million new U.S. jobs in a two-year plan to simulate an economy facing a “crisis of historic proportions.”

Obama, in his weekly radio address, today said that “financial markets faced more turmoil,” potentially leading to a “deflationary spiral” that may plunge the nation further into debt and cost millions more jobs. New home purchases in October were the lowest in half a century and 540,000 morejobless claims were filed last week, the highest in 18 years, he said today.

Job losses in the U.S. have totaled 1.2 million this year as the economy entered a slowdown exacerbated by the worst credit crisis in seven decades. More firings will weigh on the economy and consumer spending, putting pressure on Obama and Congress to agree on legislation that will stimulate growth.

“I have already directed my economic team to come up with an economic recovery plan that will mean 2.5 million more jobs by January of 2011 -- a plan big enough to meet the challenges we face that I intend to sign soon after taking office” on Jan. 20, Obama said. “We have now lost 1.2 million jobs this year, and if we don’t act swiftly and boldly, most experts now believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year.”

Details of the plan will be worked out in coming weeks, and will include jobs rebuilding roads and bridges, upgrading schools and building wind farms and alternative energy technologies, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Gale in Singapore atj.gale@bloomberg.net