The White House promised that it would help lower-income youth find jobs this summer. This is a move to woo the younger voters to re-elect President Barack Obama. The program is in partnership with the cities of San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Jobs for the Youth

The summer jobs initiative will create 180,000 job opportunities for those aged 16 to 24 years old. Under the program, companies such as UBS, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, and Johnson & Johnson, as well as non-profit organizations and federal agencies will provide paying jobs, mentorships and other training programs.

From April to July of each year, the size of the youth labor force increases as high school and college students across the nation look for summer jobs. But there are so little opportunities for young job hunters in recent years.

The program initiated by the White House does not require the approval from Congress. It came after Obama did a multi-state tour of college campuses where the president stated that he has been pushing Congress to extend the low interest rates on college loans that would affect more than 7.4 million students.

In the 2008 presidential election, President Barack Obama won a strong majority of the youth vote. He hopes to do the same in the upcoming November election but it is still uncertain whether a lot of young people will go out to vote.

The White House announced that the city of Chicago would offer 973 jobs via a partnership with the Chicago Public Schools. Half of the jobs will be given to students at risk of academic failure. In 2011, the number of young people looking for summer job but failed to land one increased by 745,000 to 4.1 million in July, which is the peak of youth employment. It was also last year when the lowest rate of youth employment was experienced for the month of July since 1948.