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The American economy shrank rapidly in the first three months of the year, the government reported on Wednesday, a signal that the economy is likely to remain a dominant issue as the Obama administration looks beyond its first 100 days.

The gross domestic product shrank at an annual rate of 6.1 percent from January through March, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported. It was the third straight quarter of declines and capped the worst six months of economic activity since the late 1950’s.

Economists had predicted a drop of 4.7 percent, and the steep dip could dampen hopes that the pace of economic declines had begun to ebb. The decline was almost as sharp as in the previous quarter, when the economy shrank at a pace of 6.3 percent, its worst drop in a generation.

A plunge in business investment contributed to much of the overall decline in the nation’s economic output.

Companies slashed their capital investment at an annual rate of 38 percent, and cut their inventories at a pace of $103.7 billion as they rushed to reduce their costs. Business investment in software and equipment declined by an annualized 33.8 percent, and investment in new structures was down 44.2 percent.

If there was one bright spot in the numbers, it was that consumer spending edged up by 2.2 percent after two quarters of declines. The sharper-than-expected drop in economic output came in sharp contrast to recent signs of stabilization in the economy.

Credit markets that spiraled out of control late last year are stabilizing, and retail sales and orders by manufacturers are no longer posting record declines. And on Tuesday, a closely watched gauge of home prices in the United States leveled off by a hair, the first time in 16 months that the slide in housing prices did not accelerate.

“We’re still declining, but we can see the forces that will get us out of this,” said Markus Schomer, global economic strategist at AIG Investments. “We still have this massive fiscal stimulus coming. There are a lot of positives that are coming over the next six to 12 months that will drive the recovery.”

Economists surveyed in April for the Blue Chip report on economic indicators expected the economy to hit bottom this spring, flatten out in the summer and then grow at a tepid rate of 1.6 percent in the last months of 2009 as tax cuts and spending projects from the government’s $787 billion stimulus package filter through the economy.

But even if the economy is beginning to reach a bottom, millions of Americans are unlikely to see their fortunes improve any time soon.

Although stock markets have rallied recently on some wisps of less-awful economic data, economists warned that job losses are likely to continue through the rest of the year. The current unemployment rate of 8.5 percent is expected to rise to as high as 10 percent as businesses slash their costs and institute hiring freezes, buckling down for more bad times.

Already, more than five million workers have lost their jobs since the recession began in December 2007. Businesses that began to cut costs with furloughs and pay freezes are laying off workers in large numbers. Earlier this week, General Motors announced it would slash another 21,000 jobs in the United States.

As a candidate, President Obama made the economy the centerpiece of his campaign for the White House, and he has said that his stimulus package would save or create three million to four million jobs over the next two years. Economists said the next months would begin to put those promises to a test.

“‘I don’t think anyone’s going to be thrilled,” said Michael Moran, chief economist at Daiwa Securities. “The unemployment rate is going to continue rising, and I think this soft labor market is going to continue to give a disappointing tone to the economy.”