Mr Obama is expected to propose extending payroll tax cuts and new infrastructure spending to spur job creation.
United States media said the total jobs package could be worth $US300 billion ($NZ360 billion).
Before the speech, Republicans sent mixed signals, sounding alternately dismissive of the plan and conciliatory, Reuters reported yesterday. Mr Obama would need the support of Republicans to pass the measures through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
The latest unemployment rate for August was 9.1%, data showing zero employment growth in the month.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Chris Timms said markets were suffering from the "whiplash effect", swaying between both extremes of rises and falls.
"Maybe the behaviour of the markets depends on which side of the bed the economists get out of in the morning. You can read the latest data either way."
Markets were steadier yesterday, shares rebounding in Europe as the German constitutional court ruled the country's participation in the various European Union rescue packages was not illegal.
US shares logged their first gain of the month as worries eased about Europe's debt crisis and as investors shrugged off the Federal Reserve's Beige Book, which showed slower growth in some regions of the US, Mr Timms said.
The speech today would not be the first time Mr Obama had tried to stimulate the job market.
A detailed list from Reuters showed Mr Obama had on at least six previous occasions tried to stimulate job creation, starting back in January 2009, when unemployment was 7.3%.
He signed a $US800 billion package, predicting his plan would save or create more than 3.5 million jobs in the next three years.
Three months later, unemployment was 8.9%.
In September 2009, Mr Obama signed into law a $US30 billion plan to provide capital to small businesses. That was followed by another new law in November 2009 to ensure additional unemployment insurance for 1 million Americans. He also proposed tax incentives to small businesses that retained employees or hired new ones.
The unemployment rate reached 9.9% in December 2009.
In January 2010, Mr Obama announced an initiative to provide $2.3 billion in tax credits to manufacturers of clean technologies in an attempt to encourage job creation.
"The initiative we're outlining today will likely generate 17,000 jobs and the roughly $US5 billion more that we'll leverage in the private-sector investments could help create tens of thousands of additional jobs."
The unemployment rate fell slightly in January 2010 to 9.7%.
At a Labour Day rally in September last year, Mr Obama announced a $US50 billion package to rebuild ageing roads, railways and runways to push job creation. The plan was rejected by Republicans. A small business jobs Bill was signed into law later that month, providing $US12 billion in loans and tax relief to small business owners, partly to encourage new hiring.
The unemployment rate in September 2010 was 9.6%.
Last month, in speeches at town hall-style events during a trip to the rural Midwest, Mr Obama made job creation a recurring theme.
He unveiled some modest new job-creation plans and committed $US350 million in funding in the next five years for rural small businesses, and proposed expanding job-search and training services, improving access to private capital and rural access to health care.
The latest employment rate is 9.1%.
Mr Timms said while political rhetoric was fine, markets and taxpayers wanted something tangible to come from the speech.
"There will be euphoria from the speech if it sets the right tone and, while it will help the market, it will be short-lived. People are looking for something real to come out of the package."
