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Are you preparing for or just started in the job market? Do you have anxieties about your economic future? You're not alone. By all accounts, Americans sense of job insecurity is at a peak, and the wages of middle-class workers have been stagnant for years. Thanks largely to the campaign rhetoric of Republican Presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan, and highly publicized acts of corporate downsizing like the recent layoff of 40,000 AT&T; workers, the plight of the middle-class worker is under close scrutiny. And politicians, as they are wont to do, have taken up the cause. Here's a look at some worker-friendly bills in Congress now:

First, some news on two key bills we've looked at recently:

The LINE-ITEM VETO has been passed by Congress, and President Clinton will sign it this week. Clinton and the Congress struck a deal that would delay implementation of the power until January 1, 1997, to prevent it from becoming a political tool in the coming election season.

The FARM BILL has also emerged from Congress and awaits the signature of the President. In the final wrangling over the bill, Democrats won key environmental and conservation concessions from the Republicans.

MINIMUM WAGE:
Nuts and Bolts: Currently, the minimum wage an employer may pay is $4.25 per hour. President Clinton wants to raise that amount by 90 cents, to $5.15 per hour, over the next two years. It would be the first increase in the minimum wage since 1989. Because of the effect of inflation, the worth of a minimum-wage salary is at a 40-year low.

Status: Minimum wage bills have been introduced in both houses of Congress, but the Republicans have stymied votes on the measure in both the House and Senate. A majority, 55 Senators, moved to end a Republican filibuster blocking the bill from a vote, but that is still short of the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster. In the House, Republicans won a party-line vote preventing consideration of the bill.

Inside Scoop: Republicans are decrying the bill as an election-year gimmick to make Clinton appear pro-worker compared to Bob Dole, who opposes the measure. Republicans counter that while low-income workers will take home higher pay, that benefit might be outweighed by the impact of businesses. They argue a minimum wage boost might simply cause employers to eliminate jobs if they become too expensive. They are also consistently hostile to most government interventions in the market. Numerous academic studies on the possible effects of raising the minimum wage have failed to establish a clear consensus on what impact it might actually have.

HEALTH CARE:
Nuts and Bolts: Although Hillary Clinton's health care plan was so disastrous a failure it may have cost her party control of Congress in 1994, Congress recognizes that the public still wants some reform. Senators Edward Kennedy, D-MA, and Nancy Landon Kassebaum, R-KS, introduced a bill last summer that would require health insurers to continue to offer coverage to workers who change or lose their jobs, and to prohibit the denial of coverage to people with preexisting medical conditions.

Status: The House passed a version of the bill last week, 267-151, but added measures strongly opposed by Democrats. Those include a $250,000 limit on malpractice "pain and suffering" awards; and tax breaks for medical savings accounts. The Senate is scheduled to consider the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill on April 18. President Clinton is likely to veto such legislation if it includes added provisions like medical savings accounts.

Inside Scoop: The Kennedy-Kassebaum bill was long stalled in the Senate because Republicans had kept it from a vote by putting a "hold" on the legislation. But President Clinton endorsed the bill in his State of the Union address, and Congressional Republicans hope to win as many legislative achievements as possible before they face voters in November. Critics say medical savings accounts are a gift to the rich and to big insurance companies which could cost the government $2 billion and distort the insurance market by skimming off healthy customers.

JOB TRAINING:
Nuts and Bolts: Congress is at work on legislation to revamp Federal job-training programs. Those programs train or retrain about one million unemployed Americans a year, giving them skills that allow them to find new jobs. The House bill, sponsored by Rep. Bill Goodling, R-PA, and supported by the President, would turn job-training grants into vouchers to allow trainees to choose the program best suited to them. The Senate version would send job-training to the states to use as they wish. Both versions would cut funds for training. The bills would also expand an electronic "jobs-bank" that would help workers find job openings and would tailor high school vocational training to changes in the economy.

Status: The House and Senate have passed job-training bills, and the measures have been stuck in a conference committee since October. House leaders have said they would like a vote on the conference report by April 22.

Inside Scoop: Although job training was one of the central elements of Bill Clinton's campaign in 1992, he has made little progress since being elected. Republicans may be reluctant to usher the bill out of conference for Clinton's signature, thereby giving him a victory in election season. Conservative activist groups are also mounting a fierce attack on the measure, decrying the computer job-bank and proposals for high school vocational programs as intrusive and bureaucratic.