WASHINGTON -- A new poll commissioned by the AFL-CIO for release around Labor Day claims that nearly six out of 20 American workers are worried about the economy and 54 percent believe they won't be able to achieve their own financial goals.

		On the Internet Read State of Working America survey.

The cost of health care is at the top of the list of economic worries cited by those polled, with only 24 percent saying the country is headed in the right direction in dealing with the issue.

And 63 percent say that it is increasingly difficult to find a good job with financial security even with a college degree, with 62 percent of working women -- vs. slightly less than half of men -- worrying about making financial ends meet.

The poll, conducted by Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart Research Associates, is based on interviews with 805 American workers, including 14 percent who are union members, and was done two weeks ago. It has an error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percent.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who won re-election at a fractious convention this summer that saw two of the nation's largest unions bolt from the federation, said the country's working families face a "worsening financial crisis and they know it, even if Washington and the Wall Street crowd don't."

"Wages are flat or falling. Health-care costs are up 90 percent from 1996 to 2003. Big companies like Boeing are taking back health-care coverage and companies like United Airlines are cutting (worker) retirement benefits even as they give their executives golden parachutes," he said.

The White House has countered that the economy is improving, growth is robust and that more than 2 million jobs have been created this year. Its position was bolstered yesterday by the Conference Board, a private research firm in New York that said its closely watched consumer confidence index rose unexpectedly this month despite higher costs for gasoline.

But the labor federation's view was supported by a separate report yesterday from the Census Bureau, which showed the number of Americans below the poverty line rose 1.1 million last year, and the number of Americans without health insurance at 45.8 million, up 800,000.

Workers are seeing the "worst attack on their rights and living standards in 80 years," Sweeney said, because Republicans control both houses of Congress and the White House. He said getting more Democrats elected is imperative for the federation -- an issue that led the Service Employees International Union and the Teamsters to break away, claiming more effort should be put into organizing workers.

The Hart poll also found that job dissatisfaction rising, with 53 percent of those surveyed believing their salaries are falling behind the cost of living. Twenty-four percent said they don't trust their employers to treat their employees fairly, and 42 percent said they trust their employers "just some." Ten percent said they trust employers "a great deal" and 23 percent trust employers "quite a bit."