US president Barack Obama has announced his government will spend billions of dollars to build huge infrastructure projects in the country, to create jobs and boost confidence in the American economy.

Mr Obama has promised that Americans will be invited back to work on the construction of the country’s roads, railways and airport runways.

The $50 billion plan will mean the rebuilding of more than 240,000 kilometres of roads and 6,000 kilometres of railways.

The president has told the American public the billions to be spent will concentrate on projects for the long term, so that America can have the best infrastructure in the world.

He said: "We used to have the best infrastructure in the world. We can have it again; we are going to make it happen. We are going to rebuild 150,000 miles of our roads. That’s enough to circle the world six times. We’re going to lay and maintain 4,000 miles of our railways. Enough to stretch coast-to-coast."

The latest unemployment figures have shown that the US jobless rate is running at 9.6 per cent after a net loss of 54,000 jobs.