MILWAUKEE -- President Barack Obama spoke to a crowd of 10,000 gathered at Milwaukee's Laborfest on Monday.

"Milwaukee, it was folks like you who built this city, folks like you who built this state, folks like you who forged that middle class all across the nation," said the president.

But is has also been folks like them that have been hit the hardest by the nation's recession. Current unemployment figures for Wisconsin stand at 7.8 percent.

It might be folks like them who will reap the benefits of the president's new plan to put American's back to work -- updating the nation's outdated infrastructure. The president unveiled his plan in Milwaukee on Monday.

"We're talking roads, we're talking bridges, we're talking dams, levees, and a smart electric grid than can bring clean energy to new areas," said Obama.

The president's plan also calls for upgrading 150,000 miles of roads, 4,000 miles of railway and 150 miles of airport runway, plus a new air traffic control system to reduce travel time and delays.

The plan calls for doing all of these things over the next six years.

"It doesn't do any good when so many hard working Americans have been idle for months maybe even years in a time when there's so much of America that needs rebuilding," said Obama.

His words spoke directly to union hearts.

"I want to see him create jobs in the trades," said one Milwaukee union leader Jeff Pucel. "Too many guys are on the bench right now -- looking for work from carpenters, finish carpenters, rough carpenters, a lot of guys on the bench right now."

"We're talking about investments in tomorrow that are creating hundreds of thousands of private sector jobs right now," said Obama.

"You've got to put Americans back to work before you can have any type of recovery," said Mike Wojdac.

"I am going to keep fighting every single day, every single hour, every single minute to turn this economy around and put people back to work and renew the American dream. Not just for your family, not just for all our families but for future generations," said Obama.

The president said his plan should attract bi-partisan support.

The plan would need Congressional approval, which may be tough to achieve during this election year.