WASHINGTON- PRESIDENT Barack Obama announced on Monday a boost to economic stimulus spending over the next three months in a bid to save or create 600,000 jobs through summer youth programs, schools and public works.

Mr Obama is ramping up the spending just as White House aides have sought to tamp down expectations of what impact his US$787 billion (S$1.15 trillion) stimulus plan will have on soaring unemployment rates.

In a statement, the White House said the 600,000 jobs represented 'four times the number created or saved in the first 100 days' - approximately 150,000 jobs - of the Obama administration.

A formal announcement was expected at a Cabinet meeting later on Monday during which Vice President Joe Biden was to present a 'Roadmap to Recovery,' billed by the White House as an 'administration-wide effort to accelerate implementation' of the stimulus plan.

The programs to be announced, some of which are already in place, included improvements on 98 airports and over 1,500 highways, federal funding for 135,000 education jobs and maintenance work at 359 military bases and other facilities.

'We have a long way to go on our road to recovery but we are going the right way,' Mr Obama said in a statement.

'Our measure of progress is the progress the American people see in their own lives. And until that progress is steady and solid; we're going to keep moving forward. We will not grow complacent or rest. Surely and steadily, we will turn this economy around.'

Mr Biden, meanwhile, promised to 'get more dollars out the door, more shovels into the ground and more money into the pockets of workers and families who need it most.'

The move came as government data showed a jump in the unemployment rate to 9.4 per cent in May, a new 26-year high, despite the number of job losses slowing to 345,000, better than had been expected. -- AFP