WASHINGTON — White House economists said Thursday the Obama administration's recovery efforts have saved or created more than 1 million jobs, an estimate that underscored a cautiously optimistic forecast about the direction of the economy.

President Barack Obama has promised that his $787 billion stimulus plan will create or save 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year. But the economy has fared worse than the White House predicted when it pitched the jobs plan and officials have tried to beat back criticism that the results were not worth the cost of the huge combination of tax cuts, state aid and government programs.

In its first report to Congress on the stimulus, the White House Council on Economic Advisers said the economy was improving and would have been far worse without the stimulus.

"We have absolutely seen a change in trajectory," said Christina Romer, the top White House economic adviser.

Previous job estimates have been based on an economic model that was never intended to count jobs. In Thursday's report, the White House focused instead on a more common economic formula that tracks the relationship between jobs and the overall economy.

Because the economy declined less than expected in recent months, the White House said that translated to about one million jobs that would have been lost without government efforts. The report attributes much of this to the stimulus but conceded it is difficult to say for certain which of the many government economic policies contributed to the estimate.

"Other policy actions, such as the Financial Stabilization Plan, monetary policy, and the Federal Reserve's program of buying agency debt and long-term U.S. government bonds, surely contributed," the report said.

The effect of the stimulus will become clearer over time. Next month, businesses and states are required to report a head count of the number of workers involved in stimulus projects. That won't take into consideration the effect of some programs such as tax cuts, but it will provide the first raw job numbers associated with the stimulus.

Thursday's report drew criticism from Republicans, who noted since Obama signed the stimulus in February, the nation has lost about 2.4 million jobs.