Obama: 600,000 jobs in second 100 days

WASHINGTON, June 8 (UPI) -- The Obama administration unveiled a list of projects Monday designed to goose the lethargic U.S. economy under the $787 billion stimulus plan passed this year.

The nationwide projects -- including work in national parks, airport improvements, renovations to veteran medical centers and military facilities, and job creation and retention in education and law enforcement fields -- are expected to create or save more than 600,000 jobs in the second 100 days of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the White House said in a news release.

"We've laid a good foundation in the first 100 days of the recovery act, and in the next 100 we plan to build on that foundation and accelerate our efforts so we can accomplish even more," Vice President Joe Biden said when presenting the project list to President Barack Obama.

While positive movement under the recovery act has been recorded, the country still has "a long way to go ... but we are going the right way," Obama said.

"We've got more work to do" on the economy, Obama said as he pledged his administration would not become complacent.

The jobs will come from a number of sources: maintenance projects at military bases and veterans medical centers in many states; about 1,600 road and airport projects; the hiring of about 135,000 teachers and school staffers, another 5,000 in law enforcement and125,000 youth for summer work; waste- and water-system projects; and the cleanup of polluted Superfund sites.