TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – So is the economy recovering or not? A day after breaking the fabled 10,000 barrier earlier this month, the Dow industrials dropped back to 9,996 the next day.

The Federal Reserve tells consumers that inflation is still in check, jobs are finally being created, and unemployment is falling. But U.S. workers find their incomes increasingly pressured by lower wages, higher benefit fees and global competition.

All of which makes the 2004 Economic Outlook Conference, presented by The University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research, all the more important to the state’s business community. The conference is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 15 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Montgomery.

“It has been a contradictory economy the past year or so,” said Dr. Carl Ferguson, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research. “We have seen some recovery, and we expect to see that recovery continue, but there are danger signals as well. So, where do we go from here? We think our lineup of speakers might be able to shed some light on these and other issues.”

Drayton Nabers, the state’s director of finance, will be the luncheon speaker. Nabers retired in 2001 as chief executive officer of Protective Life Insurance after working for the company for 23 years. Before joining Protective Life, Nabers was a partner in the law firm of Cabaniss, Johnston, Gardner, Dumas and O’Neal. Nabers holds an A.B. degree from Princeton University and a law degree from Yale University School of Law. He served as a law clerk for United States Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black.

In addition to Nabers, speakers include:

Nariman Behravesh, chief economist for Global Insight, who will give the U.S. Outlook, and Carl Ferguson, who will address the Alabama Outlook.

Conference sponsors this year include Alabama Power; Compass Bank; Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama; Sterne, Agee & Leach, Inc.; United Parcel Service; and Vulcan Materials.

Registration deadline is Jan. 8, 2004. The conference registration fee is $95, which includes the Alabama Economic Outlook 2004, conference materials and lunch.

For more information call 205/348-6191 or e-mail uacber@cba.ua.edu.

CBER is Alabama’s central reservoir for business, economic and demographic data. Since its creation in 1930, CBER has engaged in research programs to promote economic development in the state, while continuously expanding and refining its broad base of socioeconomic information. To forecast the level of activity in Alabama, CBER developed an econometric model of the state. Beginning in 1980, output from the model has been published in the annual Alabama Economic Outlook series.