Due to the fact that not many were released and I was on holiday, there has been no listing of Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports for the past two weeks. For those of you new to the blog, Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a research agency of Congress and writes reports at Congress's request. These short reports (usually 10-40 pages long) cover recent topics of concern. This week only brings us a number of CRS reports on climate change, auto industry, trade, and much more. While these reports are in the public domain there is no central database available to the public. To get a copy of a CRS report you can request it from your Senator or Representative. This list is compiled from CRS reports discovered by OpenCRS and Secrecy News:

• Executive Branch Reorganization and Management Initiatives: A Brief Overview
• Islamist Militancy in the Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Region and U.S. Policy
• Section 1206 of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2006: A Fact Sheet on Department of Defense Authority to Train and Equip Foreign Military Forces
• Department of Defense ‘Section 1207? Security and Stabilization Assistance: A Fact Sheet
• Water Infrastructure Needs and Investment: Review and Analysis of Key Issues
• Whales and Sonar: Environmental Exemptions for the Navy’s Mid-Frequency Active Sonar Training Program
• Afro-Latinos in Latin America and Considerations for U.S. Policy
• Party Leaders in the United States Congress, 1789-2009
• Containing Financial Crisis
• The Constitutionality of Campaign Finance Regulation: Buckley v. Valeo and Its Supreme Court Progeny
• Presidential Appointee Positions Requiring Senate Confirmation and Committees Handling Nominations
• Recess Appointments Made by President George W. Bush, January 20, 2001-October 31, 2008
• Nominations to Article III Lower Courts by President George W. Bush During the 110th Congress
• The Motion to Recommit in the House of Representatives: Effects, Recent Trends, and Options for Change
• Organic Agriculture in the United States: Program and Policy Issues
• A Low Carbon Fuel Standard: State and Federal Legislation and Regulation
• Global Climate Change: Three Policy Perspectives
• C0mpulsory DNA Collection: A Fourth Amendment Analysis
• Economic Stimulus Proposals for 2008: An Analysis
• Even Start: Funding Controversy
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Conflicting Situations, Conflicting Perspectives
• How to Develop and Write a Grant Proposal
• Iran: Ethnic and Religious Minorities
• Job Loss and Infrastructure Job Creation During the Recession
• Medicare: Part B Premiums
• Membership of the 111th Congress: A Profile
• Nonforeign Cost-of-Living Allowances and Possible Transition to Locality Pay
• Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with Russia: Statutory Procedures for Congressional Consideration and Their Implementation
• Ocean Piracy and Its Impact on Insurance
• Presidential Libraries: The Federal System and Related Legislation
• Salaries of Members of Congress: A List of Payable Rates and Effective Dates, 1789-2006
• Strategic Arms Control After START: Issues and Options
• The National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility: Issues for Congress
• Training the Military to Manage Contractors During Expeditionary Operations: Overview and Options for Congress
• What Happens to SCHIP After March 31, 2009?

Interested in historical CRS reports? If you are here at the Boulder campus, check out the LexisNexis Congressional database, which has reports back to 1916.

Not on campus, but still want access to additional reports? The library has a guide linking to various additional sources of CRS reports.

Employment statistics are not looking good--even for those with college degrees. An article in the Washington Post reports that although a college degree typically facilitates job searching and increases job security, the unemployment rate for workers with at least a bachelor's degree is approaching record highs.

In fact, some economists claim the unemployment rate for workers with a bachelor's degree or higher could exceed 4 percent. This would be the highest unemployment rate for this category of workers since 1970, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics started recording unemployment by education level. Currently the unemployment rate for those with college degrees is 3.1 percent--the highest it's been since 2003.

Although the level of unemployed college graduates has approached a peak, 3.1 percent is still much lower than the overall national unemployment rate of 6.7 percent or the 10.5 percent unemployment rate among job-seekers without a high-school diploma. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' website provides monthly data about a variety of employment factors and outcomes, such as the table "Employment Status of the Civilian Population 25 Years and Older by Educational Attainment," which contains statistics through November 2008.

The BLS website also contains links to information about job outlooks in specific states and localities, including the Colorado Department of Labor & Employment's LMI Gateway.

If these links don't provide the employment information you need, see our guide to labor & employment for additional resources.