The White House announced a summer jobs program for low-income youth Thursday, a move to circumvent Congress.

Under the new initiative, leading U.S. organizations and businesses, including the American Association of People with Disabilities, AT&T and Bank of America, will create nearly 180,000 employment opportunities for low-income youth in the summer of 2012, the White House said in a statement.

The goal is to offer 250,000 employment opportunities by the start of the summer, at least 100,000 of which will be placements in paid jobs and internships, the statement said.

The program came after President Barack Obama's proposal of a 447-billion-dollar American Jobs Act in September stalled in Congress.

"America's young people face record unemployment, and we need to do everything we can to make sure they've got the opportunity to earn the skills and a work ethic that come with a job," Obama said.

"It's important for their future, and for America's. That's why I proposed a summer jobs program for youth in the American Jobs Act -- a plan that Congress failed to pass."

This was the latest executive action taken by the Obama administration to strengthen the U.S. economy as Obama geared up his reelection bid.

The U.S. unemployment rate hovered at a stubbornly high level of 8.6 percent in November.