In 2001, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) conducted a voluntary survey of U.S. employers regarding the use of respiratory protective devices. This survey provides a greater level of detail than any previous survey of job related respirator use. The survey findings are intended to provide information to develop educational interventions for specific populations and to increase the frequency and effectiveness of respirator use in the workplace.

Annual data on the labor force, employment, and unemployment in States and substate areas are available from two major sources: the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program. The CPS is a sample survey of about 60,000 households nationwide conducted for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by the Census Bureau. The LAUS program is a Federal State cooperative endeavor in which State workforce agencies prepare estimates using concepts, definitions, and estimation procedures prescribed by BLS.

This report describes the labor force characteristics and earnings patterns among the major race and ethnicity groups-Whites, Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics-and provides more detailed data through a set of supporting tables. These data are obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of 60,000 households that is a rich source of information on the labor force.

The National Compensation Survey (NCS) provides comprehensive measures of compensation cost trends, as well as incidence and detailed provisions of employee benefit plans. This bulletin presents estimates of the incidence and key provisions of selected employee benefit plans. Estimates presented are on benefits for civilian workers-workers in private industry and in state and local government-by various employee and employer characteristics. For the purposes of the NCS, Federal Government, agricultural, and household workers, and workers who are selfemployed, are excluded.

The National Compensation Survey (NCS) provides comprehensive measures of occupational earnings, compensation cost trends, as well as incidence and detailed provisions of employee benefit plans. This bulletin presents estimates of the incidence of and key provisions of selected employee benefit plans. Estimates presented are on benefits for civilian workers--workers in private industry and in State and local government--by various employee and employer characteristics. For the purposes of the NCS, Federal government, agricultural, and household workers, and the self-employed, are excluded.

For the duration of the pilot, both Regions V and IX are authorized to conduct up to 15 mediation sessions each, and may continue to offer unlimited early resolution. For its mediation sessions, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has chosen the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) to serve as the neutral third party mediator. For the pilot, the attached Mediation Agreement form will be used in each mediation session held by FMCS. Funding for the pilot will be provided by OWPP.

This Instruction implements the OSHA Whistleblower Investigations Manual, and supersedes the August 22, 2003 Instruction. This manual outlines procedures, and other information relative to the handling of retaliation complaints under the various whistleblower statutes delegated to OSHA and may be used as a ready reference.

This Report on the Youth Labor Force provides a detailed, overall look at youth labor in the United States, including regulations on child labor, current work experience of youths and how it has changed over time, and the outcomes of this experience. It draws on a variety of Department of Labor data sources in developing this picture.

The past several decades have been marked by notable changes in women's labor force activities. Women's labor force participation is significantly higher today than it was in the 1970s, particularly among women with children, and a larger share of women work full time and year round than past decades.