Contours of Obama jobs package coming into focus

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Source: Reuters

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The president is widely expected to repeat his calls for an extension of a payroll tax cut, push for patent reform and bilateral free trade deals, and suggest an infrastructure bank to upgrade the country's roads, airports and other facilities.

Retrofitting schools with energy efficient technology would allow the government to directly hire for labor-intensive work and also give a boost to the clean energy sector that Obama has said could be an important U.S. economic motor.

Other measures being considered, according to economists who have advised the White House, include tax credits for firms hiring more workers, funds for local governments to hire teachers, and retraining help for the long-term unemployed. Steps to boost the ailing housing market are also under review.

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Alice Rivlin, a former Clinton economic official and Federal Reserve vice chairwoman, said new policies would have to be designed in a way that ensures money is spent quickly and people are hired directly for them to be effective.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/25/us-usa-obama-jobs-idUSTRE77O1EW20110825