WASHINGTON, D.C. -- United Press International (UPI) has reported that the Obama Administration this week established a new panel to address issues that workers and communities involved in the auto industry are currently facing.

The inter-agency council, called the White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers, was created by executive order.

"The White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers will ensure that the federal government is responding quickly and accelerating recovery efforts to those communities hardest hit," Ed Montgomery, director of the U.S. Labor Department's Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers, said in a news release. The unit helps automotive workers in their job search, training, education and support services in their communities.

The newly formed panel was announced Tuesday by Vice President Biden in Perrysburg, Ohio, during a meeting of the White House Task Force on Middle Class Families, called "Promoting American Manufacturing in the 21st Century," said the UPI report.