More than 20 guests are sitting with U.S. first lady Michelle Obama Thursday as President Barack Obama lays out his jobs plan before Congress.

The invitees include business leaders, politicians and military personnel.

Among those sitting with the first lady are General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt — the chairman of the president's jobs council, and AOL co-founder Steve Case.

The White House says the governor of the eastern state of Maryland , the mayors of Los Angeles, California and Cincinnati, Ohio and the head of the nation's biggest federation of labor unions will also be in attendance.

Not all of those invited are well-known. Other guests include an engineer in the state of Colorado, a firefighter in Virginia, a single mother from California and a third-grade teacher in Ohio at risk of losing her job.