US President Barack Obama has called on congressional Republicans to put their country ahead of their party, and vote to create new jobs. He used a boisterous Labor Day rally, to aim a partisan barb, at the opposition.

On Monday, Obama gave a preview of the jobs speech he'll deliver to Congress on Thursday. He says, there are numerous roads and bridges that need rebuilding US, and over 1 million unemployed construction workers who're available to build them.

Obama has been under heavy criticism by Republicans, for presiding over a persistently weak economy and high unemployment. Last Friday's DISmal jobs report, showed that no new jobs were added in August. It's the first time since 1945 that the government reported a net change, of zero. Plus the unemployment rate held steady at over 9 percent.