Wendy R. Ginsberg
Analyst in Government Organization and Management
Jaclyn Petruzzelli
Research Associate
This report provides data from the past 25 years on the size of the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS’s) workforce. Further, this report examines trends in workforce composition, particularly focusing on shifts in the ratio between career and non-career employment.
USPS employed 645,950 persons as of September 30, 2011 (FY2011). USPS’s workforce size has dropped by 147,524 employees (18.6%) in the past 25 years, and USPS had 25,737 (3.8%) fewer employees at the end of FY2011 than it did at the end of FY2010. Since 1986, the career/noncareer composition of USPS’s workforce has also changed. The number of career employees has declined 23.8%, while the number of non-career employees has increased 43.7%. In FY2011, USPS hired 10,471 employees for a new non-career position called Postal Support Employee. According to a USPS job announcement, the Postal Support Employees work in mail/retail distribution, as clerks, or in motor vehicle and maintenance.
Facing financial problems, USPS instituted a hiring freeze, froze the pay rate of managers, and offered some employees early retirement options. In FY2011, USPS operated with its smallest workforce in at least 25 years. Employee pay constituted 68% of USPS total expenses in FY2011.
Date of Report: June 28, 2012
Number of Pages: 16
Order Number: RS22864
Price: $29.95
Document available via e-mail as a pdf file or in paper form.
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