the St. Paul AME Church Centennial Hall on Court Street at 8 p.m.

The speakers will be: Sen. Joe Johnson (Ind.), president of American International, one of the largest international businesses in Bermuda.

Mr. Horst Finkbeiner, management consultant and former Princess Hotel general manager.

Rev. Alphonso Sherald, coordinator of the AME churches' Social Action Committee.

Mr. Calvin Smith, BIU assistant secretary general and manager of the BIU credit union.

"Every sector of Bermuda's society has in some way been affected by the worst recession in four decades,'' said organiser Mr. Glenn Fubler.

Mr. Fubler said the forum is being put together by some of the members of the Committee on Unemployment. But the committee itself is largely defunct, he said, now that the Island's political parties have taken up the issue.

"We think this is a crisis affecting everybody,'' Mr. Fubler said. "It's incumbent on the community to have an open discussion and dialogue on the issues.

"It's affecting the broadest possible cross section of the community. And I detect there is more to this recession than just a short-term downturn. A lot of indicators are that we are going to have to take a look at how we, as a community, survive economically.''