CHICAGO - PRESIDENT-ELECT Barack Obama on Saturday called for urgent action to rescue the flagging US economy and stop the hemorrhage of jobs, as unemployment hit a 14-year high and looked set to rise further.

In his first weekly radio address since his decisive election victory on Tuesday, the Illinois Democrat said his administration would 'hit the ground running on Jan 20 because we don't have a moment to lose.'

Mr Obama urged Congress to move quickly to pass a new economic stimulus plan to help middle-class Americans amid a wave of layoffs that has seen unemployment spike, particularly in the retail and manufacturing sectors.

'We need a rescue plan for the middle class that invests in immediate efforts to create jobs and provides relief to families that are watching their pay cheques shrink and their life savings disappear,' the president-elect said.

'Some of those choices will be difficult, but America is a strong and resilient country,' he said. 'I know that we will succeed if we put aside partisanship and work together as one nation.'

The White House has been reluctant to back a fresh stimulus package in the remaining days of President George W. Bush's administration, saying the pair of rescue plans already passed - US$168 billion plan (S$251.5 billion) earlier this year and a US$700 billion rescue programme on Oct 3 - need time to take effect.

But Democrats, bolstered by a wave of victories in Tuesday's vote, have called for a US$60-100 billion stimulus package in November, before the end of Mr Bush's term on Jan 20.

Government figures released on Friday showed that the US unemployment rate in

October rose to 6.5 per cent, its highest level since 1994. According to forecasts, the jobless rate could hit 7.5 per cent next year.

The Labour Department said 240,000 jobs were cut last month, the 10th straight month of job losses, and new revisions meant that a whopping 651,000 workers have lost their livelihoods in the past three months alone.

On Saturday, Mr Obama scheduled no public events after holding a series of meetings Friday to plan his transition to the White House, including talks with his economic advisors. He also delivered his first press conference as president-elect.

'We only have one president at a time,' Mr Obama told reporters, as sidestepped questions about Iran and refused to discuss the now-daily classified intelligence briefing he receives from the CIA, as does Mr Bush.

But Mr Obama dove into foreign policy talks, calling heads of government from Egypt, Italy, Pakistan, Poland, Spain and Saudi Arabia on Friday, after speaking on Thursday with leaders of Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico and South Korea.

The global financial crisis, the Afghanistan war, climate change and the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programme dominated the conversations, according to accounts from the various capitals.

An advisor to Mr Obama rushed to clarify that Mr Obama had made no commitment on building a missile defence shield in eastern Europe during talks with Polish President Lech Kaczynski, contradicting the Polish president's version of events.

Earlier, a statement from Mr Kaczynski after the two men spoke by telephone said Mr Obama had said he would go ahead with plans to build a missile defence shield in eastern Europe despite threats from Russia.

But Obama foreign policy advisor Dennis McDonough said Mr Obama had given no such clear cut undertaking on the controversial programme.

'President Kaczynski raised missile defense but president-elect Obama made no commitment on it,' he said.

'His position is as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile defence system when the technology is proved to be workable.'

In Moscow Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Mr Obama want to meet 'soon', the Kremlin announced on Saturday. During a telephone conversation, Mr Medvedev and Mr Obama spoke about 'the need to organise a meeting soon,' said the Kremlin in a statement, without specifying a date.

The two men 'underlined the priority nature of relations between Russia and the United States, their positive development (being) not only important for the two countries themselves, but for the international community more generally', it said, adding that the desire for 'international stability' demanded 'constructive and positive cooperation.'

Mr Obama also confirmed to reporters that he had been sent a letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad following his victory over Republican John McCain on Tuesday, and planned to review it and 'respond appropriately.'

However he said that Iran's development of nuclear weapons was 'unacceptable' and the Islamic republic must end its 'support of terrorist organisations.'

Mr Obama's words drew a sharp rebuke from Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani, who said the US president-elect's words signify 'a pursuit of the same erroneous policy as in the past', Iranian official media said. -- AFP