Obama: Jobs Report Shows Urgent Need For Stimulus

`Clearly the situation is dire. It is deteriorating and it demands urgent and immediate action,` Obama told.

President-elect Barack Obama said on Friday that the latest jobs report offered a "stark reminder" of the need to quickly pass a bold U.S. economic stimulus package.

"Clearly the situation is dire. It is deteriorating and it demands urgent and immediate action," Obama told a news conference called to discuss his selections for top intelligence jobs.

Obama also said he was making good progress in talks with Congress on the stimulus package, whose price tag is expected to total $800 billion or more.

He spoke after the Labor Department said the U.S. jobless rate jumped to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level since January 1993, from 6.8 percent in November.