WASHINGTON: The White House said Friday that a new program to make buildings more energy efficient would create tens of thousands of jobs, as economists girded for yet another glum monthly employment report.
Ahead of the release of national unemployment data for November, President Barack Obama will launch a $2 billion, 24-month program to upgrade government facilities.
In addition, he was to announce that private sector companies had made another $2 billion in commitments for energy upgrades to their buildings.
"We can't wait for Congress to act," Obama said in a statement.
"So today, I'm directing all federal agencies to make at least $2 billion worth of energy efficiency upgrades over the next 2 years -- at no up-front cost to the taxpayer."
For the government upgrades, the companies doing the retrofitting are expected to fund the work themselves and recover their costs from the energy savings generated.
"Upgrading the energy efficiency of America's buildings is one of the fastest, easiest, and cheapest ways to save money, cut down on harmful pollution, and create good jobs right now," Obama said.
The program, first announced in February, was being relaunched Friday by Obama and former President Bill Clinton with the private sector commitments now in place.
It is one in a series of White House efforts to boost job creation via the president's executive powers while the Republican-dominated Congress blocks his larger economic stimulus proposals.
The move came as stubbornly high unemployment dogged Obama's 2012 reelection bid and the US economy struggles to pick up speed.
Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, said: "We believe that this commitment will create tens of thousands of jobs," including 35,000 alone from the government side of the program.
In the November data to be released Friday at 1330 GMT, economists predict only a modest improvement: 123,000 net new jobs, compared to 80,000 in October.
That will not likely budge the 9.0 percent unemployment rate or significantly reduce the overall number of 13.9 million jobless Americans.
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