Number: RS22864
Title: U.S. Postal Service Workforce Size and Employment Categories, 1987-2007
Authors: Wendy Ginsberg, Government and Finance Division 
Abstract: This report provides data from the past two decades on the size of the U.S. Postal Service's (USPS's) workforce, the number of persons employed by USPS by employment categories, and the number of persons employed by USPS under timelimited contracts. It also analyzes the most salient aspects of these employment data. USPS employs nearly 786,000 persons. Although USPS's workforce size has changed relatively little from 20 years ago, it has dropped 12% in the past decade. The number of career employees declined 8.8% since 1987; however, the number of non-career employees increased 106.5%. Clerks, who staff retail counters at post offices and manually sort mail, dropped more than 31% since 1987. Rural mail delivery carriers, in contrast, grew 84.9%; and building and equipment maintenance personnel and vehicle maintenance personnel grew 28.7% and 14.9%, respectively.
Pages: 6
Date: Updated April 22, 2008