28 January 2014
Last updated at 19:32 ET
Mr Obama will pledge to "take steps without legislation" wherever possible, according to excerpts of the speech.
The White House said Mr Obama would unveil an executive order to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 (£6.10) an hour for new federal contract workers.
The Democratic president is facing some of his lowest approval ratings.
"Let's make this a year of action," Mr Obama says in the excerpts released ahead of the address.
Noting that inequality has deepened and upward mobility stalled, he will offer "a set of concrete, practical proposals to speed up growth, strengthen the middle class, and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class".
"America does not stand still - and neither will I," he is set to say. "So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families."
Time running out
State of the Union: Obama to promise action on inequality
Obama put the finishing touches to his speech in the Oval Office on Monday
US
President Barack Obama will announce plans to bypass a fractured
Congress in order to act on economic inequality, in his annual State of
the Union address.
The White House said Mr Obama would unveil an executive order to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 (£6.10) an hour for new federal contract workers.
The Democratic president is facing some of his lowest approval ratings.
"Let's make this a year of action," Mr Obama says in the excerpts released ahead of the address.
Noting that inequality has deepened and upward mobility stalled, he will offer "a set of concrete, practical proposals to speed up growth, strengthen the middle class, and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class".
"America does not stand still - and neither will I," he is set to say. "So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families."
Time running out
Mr Obama will speak in the House of Representatives at 21:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on Tuesday.
In the face of a divided Congress, Mr Obama has pledged to use executive action to bypass Congress, and the White House says he will flesh out some of his plans in the State of the Union speech.
Mr Obama is also expected to address long-term joblessness, expansion of early childhood education and infrastructure spending.
He will reiterate his call for a broad rise in the national minimum wage, currently $7.25 per hour, say White House officials.
Mr Obama's executive order raising the hourly rate of federal contract workers prompted a swift response from Republicans.
House Speaker John Boehner warned that such a move would cost jobs. He told reporters his party would watch to ensure the president did not exceed his authority through the use of such executive actions.
Republican rebuttals The president is also tipped to urge the Republican House of Representatives to support a broad overhaul of the US immigration system.
Last year, the Senate passed a bill that included a path to
citizenship for some of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants
in the US.
The House has thus far declined to hold a vote on that legislation, although in recent days US media have reported the chamber's Republican leaders are weighing a series of more limited measures.
Among those joining First Lady Michelle Obama in the gallery will be Jason Collins, a professional basketball player who came out as gay last year; two survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing and the fire chief of a tornado-hit Oklahoma town.
After Mr Obama's speech, several Republicans are expected to offer rebuttals, a departure from the tradition of the opposition choosing a single voice to follow the president.
Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state will deliver the official response on behalf of the Republican Party.
Republican Kentucky Senator and presumed 2016 presidential hopeful Rand Paul, a favourite of the party's libertarian wing, will release a taped address, while Utah Senator Mike Lee will offer a response on behalf of the populist, anti-tax tea party movement.
Continue reading the main story
In last year's address to the nation, Obama promised action on
three important issues: immigration, guns and the environment. As of
today, there has been no legislation on any of those. A gridlocked
Congress has thwarted his every attempt to pass laws that would make it
possible for undocumented immigrants to stay here legally or increase
background checks on gun sales or expand environmental controls.
The president has three years left in the White House, but already everyone here is focused on who replaces him in 2016 and who will win the midterm elections in 2014. With time moving on, chances are slim that he can get anything major done in what remains of his presidency.
The president has three years left in the White House, but already everyone here is focused on who replaces him in 2016 and who will win the midterm elections in 2014. With time moving on, chances are slim that he can get anything major done in what remains of his presidency.
Just over a year after his
re-election, Mr Obama must contend with determined opposition from the
Republican Party, which controls the House of Representatives and has
the numbers in the Senate to block his agenda.
Time is running short before Washington DC turns its
attention to the 2016 race to elect his successor, threatening to
sideline him even with three years remaining in office. In the face of a divided Congress, Mr Obama has pledged to use executive action to bypass Congress, and the White House says he will flesh out some of his plans in the State of the Union speech.
Mr Obama is also expected to address long-term joblessness, expansion of early childhood education and infrastructure spending.
He will reiterate his call for a broad rise in the national minimum wage, currently $7.25 per hour, say White House officials.
Mr Obama's executive order raising the hourly rate of federal contract workers prompted a swift response from Republicans.
House Speaker John Boehner warned that such a move would cost jobs. He told reporters his party would watch to ensure the president did not exceed his authority through the use of such executive actions.
Republican rebuttals The president is also tipped to urge the Republican House of Representatives to support a broad overhaul of the US immigration system.
One American child in five lives below the poverty line - the BBC visits Washington DC's deprived Anacostia district
The House has thus far declined to hold a vote on that legislation, although in recent days US media have reported the chamber's Republican leaders are weighing a series of more limited measures.
Among those joining First Lady Michelle Obama in the gallery will be Jason Collins, a professional basketball player who came out as gay last year; two survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing and the fire chief of a tornado-hit Oklahoma town.
After Mr Obama's speech, several Republicans are expected to offer rebuttals, a departure from the tradition of the opposition choosing a single voice to follow the president.
Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state will deliver the official response on behalf of the Republican Party.
Republican Kentucky Senator and presumed 2016 presidential hopeful Rand Paul, a favourite of the party's libertarian wing, will release a taped address, while Utah Senator Mike Lee will offer a response on behalf of the populist, anti-tax tea party movement.
The US has one of the highest income gaps in the developed world
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