The present invention relates to compact header structures of various forms used in wireless access systems as well as a method and apparatus for the transmission and reception of data using such headers. The method for receiving data wherein the mobile terminal uses the Persistent Allocation (PA) mode in one of the embodiments of the present invention comprises the step of receiving a Downlink Persistent Allocation MAP Information Element (DL PA MAP IE) from the base station, which contains information relating to the resource region allocated for persistent allocation in the downlink, and the step of receiving the downlink data containing a Compact Medium access control Header (CMH) via said resource region revealed by said information. At this stage, the CMH can contain an indicator that indicates whether the downlink data contains an extended header, and a length field indicating the length of the data payload.