Fed US Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan has an unenviable job. If he stumbles on the tightrope that he walks, it's not him but world's financial markets which could tip into an abyss.

Greenspan And no speech is watched so closely, in Europe, the United States and the rest of the world, as Mr Greenspan's twice-a-year Humphrey Hawkins testimony to Congress.

It's named after the Senator who initiated this exercise in central bank accountability and transparency. Many are the central bankers in other countries who are grateful that they do not have to confess their thoughts on their own economies.

Squeeze Few ordinary people around the world will know or care what Mr Greenspan's been saying.

But how this most powerful banker in the world assesses the health of the US economy determines what everyone else does; if the US sees inflation ahead and raises interest rates, (squeezing USA and international investment liquidity) others soon follow.

Relief So European central bankers collectively heave a sigh of relief this week as they pore over Mr Greenspan's carefully chosen words. Some of the themes are familiar; job insecurity is keeping wage pressures under control...for the moment.

Jobs But unemployment in the United States is much lower than in the European Union; only 4.3%. European joblessness is running at 10.2%. Thus the US economy has what economists call a tight labour market, where there are fewer and fewer workers to fill the jobs available.

Inflation Mr Greenspan fears that, in the US, this is where inflation could start to reappear.

Not from the rush of cheaper imports which has followed the Asian contagion (that is having the welcome effect of slowing growth in the US economy).

No, Mr Greenspan's anxiety is that workers could soon start to demand more money, and that would soon feed through to the prices of the goods they make.

Exports Mr Greenspan has also admitted that the US underestimated the effect of the Asian contagion. There could be further pain here.

US exporters have found new vigour in recent years. After all, it's almost 40 years since Detroit and Dearborn sold their cars abroad in any size; look at the Chrysler Zeons and Voyagers, the Ford Explorers, and the Jeeps that abound in Europe.

But they could soon start to lose out to competition from cheaper Asian competitors.

Fear So US fears about job security are unlikely to go away. The General Motors strike in the US is a case in point; the union want job guarantees not money.