Under pressure to turn the economy around as unemployment levels soar above 10 per cent, the US president has urged business leaders to generate fresh ideas to create jobs.

Barack Obama called on leading business, union leaders and academics to help him come up with innovative ideas for putting millions of Americans back to work on Thursday, saying he wanted the "biggest bang" for every dollar spent.

He told a White House brainstorming forum on jobs that the leading question of the day was "how do we get businesses to start hiring again" and asked his audience of about 130 guests to "bring their A-game".

"We cannot hang back and hope for the best," Obama said. "What I'm interested in is taking action right now."

But he added that while he is "open to every demonstrably good idea ... we also, though, have to face the fact that our resources are limited", as participants broke into working groups to brainstorm.

The call comes amid increasing scepticism over whether the stimulus package Obama announced earlier in the year is yielding results, and a day before unemployment figures for November are due to be released.

The US October unemployment rate was 10.2 per cent. A broader index that includes those who have given up looking for work and those forced to accept part-time jobs puts the rate at 17.5 per cent.

Economic forecasters expect the November figures to be at about the same levels.