Conventional measures of economic well-being -- the unemployment rate, for example -- suggest that U.S. citizens are doing well, but beneath the surface is much anxiety and concern. A panel of policy experts, economists and scholars will explore this economic insecurity in a presentation Saturday, Nov. 23, at the Washington Hilton Towers in Washington, D.C.

The session, which will be held in the Monroe East Room, begins at 2 p.m. and is expected to conclude at 3:45 p.m. "U.S. Economic Insecurity: Dimensions, Diagnosis and Policy Directions" will explore the causes of economic insecurity and consider policy alternatives as a solutions. The presentation is sponsored by the Southern Economic Association.

"Despite four years of economic recovery, many Americans are worried about wage stagnation and increasing income inequality," said panelist Charles J. Whalen, senior economist at the Cornell University Institute for Industry Studies and author of Political Economy for the 21st Century (1996). "Downsizing, growth of part-time and temporary work and large pay cuts for those affected by corporate restructuring have increased the level of economic insecurity and sent more family members into the labor market to work more hours at more jobs."

Whalen will be joined on the panel by:

• Barry Bluestone, professor of public policy, University of Massachusetts, and author of The Deindustrialization of America and The Great U-Turn: Corporate Restructuring and the Polarizing of America.
• Sheldon Friedman, an economist with the AFL-CIO's Economic Research Department.
• ames K. Galbraith, professor of public affairs, University of Texas at Austin; former chief economist for the Joint Economic Committee of Congress; and author of Balancing Acts: Technology, Finance and the American Future.
• Heidi Hartmann, director of the Institute for Women's Policy Research; recipient of the 1994 MacArthur Fellowship Award; and author of numerous reports, including "Who Needs a Family Wage? The Implications of Low-Wage Work for Family Well-Being."
• David C. Jacobs, professor of business, American University, and author of Collective Bargaining as an Instrument of Social Change.
• Lawrence Mishel, research director for the Economic Policy Institute and author of The State of Working America.