Prime Minister Tony Abbott has flagged "exciting developments" in a federal government jobs plan for Victoria.

Mr Abbott has promised an announcement in March after meeting with Victorian Premier Dennis Napthine on Wednesday to discuss employment for the thousands of workers set to lose jobs amid an exodus of firms - from aluminium giant Alcoa, to car makers Toyota, Holden and Ford.

Mr Abbott promised to make an announcement on a jobs plan pending a report on the Victorian economy on February 28.

Further announcements will be made in the lead up to the federal budget.

"There are some quite exciting announcements that people are thinking about in Geelong which we can include as part of our announcements in three weeks," he said.

Mr Abbott acknowledged "shocks" to the state economy, culminated by Alcoa's Tuesday announcement of 800 job losses in the state.

"We want to ensure the people of Victoria can face the future in confidence," Mr Abbott said.

"There is a lot of fundamental strength in the state and we need to build on that."

Dr Napthine said the Victorian economy is in a transition period but remained resilient.

"Yes, the Alcoa decision will have an impact but it's a different economy that what it was 10 to 20 years ago."

Mr Abbott is considering whether to extend the $100 million growth fund for general workforce retraining.

Treasurer Joe Hockey told reporters in Sydney there had been a worldwide trend of job losses in manufacturing, but added that he is hopeful new opportunities would be created in the sector.

Pointing to the success of companies like Boeing and Cochlear, he said: "I'm not down about manufacturing in Australia".

"There are many other examples where Australian innovation turns into Australian manufacturing, and ultimately means Australian jobs, and I'm quite hopeful of that," Mr Hockey said.