WikiLeaks Document Release http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22864 February 2, 2009 Congressional Research Service Report RS22864 U.S. Postal Service Workforce Size and Employment Categories, 1987-2007 Wendy Ginsberg, Government and Finance Division Updated April 22, 2008 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. Order Code RS22864 April 22, 2008 U.S. Postal Service Workforce Size and Employment Categories, 1987-2007 Wendy Ginsberg Analyst in American National Government Government and Finance Division Summary This report provides data from the past two decades on the size of the U.S. Postal http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22864 Service's (USPS's) workforce, the number of persons employed by USPS by employment categories, and the number of persons employed by USPS under time- limited 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. This report will be updated at the beginning of each new Congress. Data Source Each year, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) issues an Annual Report (herein, the Report) that includes data on its workforce.1 The Report categorizes employees as either "career employees" or "non-career employees." According to USPS, the career employees category includes persons with permanent positions at USPS, part- and full- time. The non-career employees category includes all persons hired under time-limited contracts.2 The Report also provides breakdowns of the number of workers by employment categories (e.g., regional offices personnel, clerks, and nurses). The 1 This report originally was written by Kevin R. Kosar. Readers may contact Wendy Ginsberg with questions about postal employment issues. 2 The data on non-career employment do not include persons carrying out postal functions outsourced to private firms. For example, USPS no longer has a fleet of cargo aircraft. Today, the Postal Service contracts with United Parcel Service and other private firms for the transportation of mail by air. The persons who fly and maintain these planes are excluded from the data on non-career employees. CRS-2 Appendix of this report presents brief descriptions of these employment categories. This report provides workforce data drawn from the Reports covering 1987 through 2007.3 Data Analysis Workforce Size. The size of USPS's workforce changed relatively little during the past two decades, decreasing from 799,800 employees in 1987 to 785,929 employees in 2007 (Table 1, Figure 1). Figures from just the beginning and ending dates, however, mask a rise in career employees in the first decade and a decline in career employees in the second decade. Since 1997, the total workforce has decreased by 12%. Clerks, for example, fell from 280,818 in 1997 to 204,145 (27.3%) in 2007. Career Employees vs. Non-career Employees. The number of career employees decreased by 8.8% between 1987 and 2007, from 750,808 to 684,762, while non-career USPS employees increased by 106.5%, from 48,992 to 101,167 (Table 1). Although 10 of the 18 career employee categories had fewer employees in 2007 than in 1987 (e.g., the number of postmasters/installation heads declined by 8.8%),4 all five of the http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22864 non-career employment categories had more employees than in 1987. Despite the decline in career employees, they constituted the vast majority of USPS's workforce during the past two decades (Figure 1, Table 2). The percentage of USPS's workforce consisting of career employees declined from 93.9% to 85.7% between 1987 and 1997, but increased to 88.1% in 2002. The percentage declined again in 2007 to 87.1%. Employment Categories. While the size of each employment category shifted over the past 20 years, three trends are marked. First, "rural" employment categories grew significantly. Full-time rural delivery carriers rose from 36,551 to 67,584 (84.9%), and rural substitute carriers/rural carrier associates/rural carrier relief carriers/auxiliary carriers (rural subs/RCA/RCR/AUX) increased from 29,831 to 60,444 (102.6%). In contrast, the number of city delivery carriers rose 1.7% between 1987 and 2002 (229,706 and 233,639 respectively), but it has dropped 4.9% since 2002 to 222,132. Second, three categories of USPS employees involved in the transportation of mail prior to its delivery have grown between 14.9% and 24.1% since 1987. Mail handlers rose 18.4%, from 48,879 to 57,882; and motor vehicle operators increased 24.1%, from 7,031 to 8,726. Vehicle maintenance personnel, who play a supporting role in mail transportation, increased 14.9%, from 4,705 to 5,405. Third, clerks, who staff the retail counters at post offices and manually sort mail, decreased 31.1% in the past two decades, from 296,360 to 204,145.5 3 U.S. Postal Service, Annual Report of the Postmaster General (Washington: USPS, 1985-1995); and U.S. Postal Service, Annual Report of the U.S. Postal Service (Washington: USPS, 1996- 2007). 4 Two career employment positions, regional office employees and special delivery messengers, were eliminated. 5 Postmasters and postmaster replacements also perform retail activities in some instances. CRS-3 Table 1. Number of USPS Employees by Employment Category, 1987-2007 (five-year intervals) Employment Change Change (%) 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 Category 1987-2007 1987-2007 Career Employees Headquarters 2,101 2,434 1,949 1,712 2,856 755 35.9% Headquarters -- 5,792 5,663 4,319 3,848 4,527 -1,265 -21.8% Related Field Units Inspection Service -- 4,278 4,324 4,347 3,875 2,991 -1,287 -30.1% Field Inspector General 0 0 101 722 1,147 1,147 -- Area Offices 0 0 1,566 2,107 1,281 1,281 -- Personnel Regional Offices 431 586 0 0 0 -431 -100.0% http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22864 Postmasters/ 27,735 26,496 26,256 25,771 25,285 -2,450 -8.8% Installation Heads Supervisors/ 43,076 43,185 35,708 37,829 32,635 -10,441 -24.2% Managers Prof. Admin. and 10,582 10,440 11,369 9,661 8,058 -2524 -23.9% Tech. Personnel Clerks 296,360 268,049 280,818 256,656 204,145 -92,215 -31.1% Nurses 325 286 193 173 160 -165 -50.8% Mail Handlers 48,879 49,520 59,147 59,259 57,882 9,003 18.4% City Delivery 229,706 223,088 234,033 233,639 222,132 -7,574 -3.3% Carriers Motor Vehicle 7,031 7,086 8,625 9,092 8,726 1,695 24.1% Operators Rural Delivery 36,551 43,283 49,957 60,817 67,584 31,033 84.9% Carriers -- Full-time Special Delivery 2,209 1,742 1,331 0 0 -2,209 -100.0% Messengers Bldg. and Equip. 31,047 34,367 39,954 42,275 39,948 8,901 28.7% Maint. Personnel Vehicle Maintenance 4,705 4,741 5,501 5,513 5,405 700 14.9% Personnel Subtotal 750,808 725,290 765,174 752,949 684,762 -66,046 -8.8% CRS-4 Employment Change Change (%) 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 Category 1987-2007 1987-2007 Non-career Employees Casuals 9,621 27,204 32,615 19,065 22,078 12,457 129.5% Non-bargaining 297 603 774 807 1,244 947 318.9% Temporary Rural Subs/RCA/RCR/ 29,831 43,830 54,834 56,474 60,444 30,613 102.6% AUX Postmaster Relief/Leave 9,243 12,415 12,687 12,234 12,169 2,926 31.7% Replacements Transitional 0 9,732 26,789 12,847 5,232 5,232 -- Employees Subtotal 48,992 93,784 127,699 101,427 101,167 52,175 106.5% Total Employees 799,800 819,074 892,873 854,376 785,929 -13,871 -1.7% http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22864 Source: CRS analysis of data provided by USPS. Figure 1. Total, Career, and Non-career Employees 1,000,000 Total Employees Number of Employees 800,000 Non- Career 600,000 400,000 Career 200,000 0 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 Source: CRS analysis of data provided by USPS. CRS-5 Table 2. Career and Non-career Employees as Percentage of USPS Workforce (five-year intervals) Employees 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 Career Employees 93.9% 88.5% 85.7% 88.1% 87.1% Non-career Employees 6.1% 11.5% 14.3% 11.9% 12.9% Total: 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Source: CRS analysis of data provided by USPS. Appendix. Brief Descriptions of USPS Employment Categories6 Career Employees Headquarters: Includes persons who work in a variety of capacities at the two central http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22864 offices of the U.S. Postal Service, which are located in Washington, DC, and Rosslyn, Virginia. Headquarters -- Related Field Units: Includes persons in offices administered from USPS's headquarters, but who are located elsewhere. Inspection Service -- Field: Includes persons who work for the Postal Inspection Service, which protects USPS property and employees and investigates alleged misuse of the mails for criminal purposes. Inspector General: Includes persons who work for the USPS Office of Inspector General, which audits and investigates USPS activities. Area Offices Personnel: Includes persons who work in the USPS administrative units that oversee postal operations in USPS's nine geographic areas throughout the United States. Regional Offices: Included persons in the administrative unit that oversaw USPS operations within geographic regions. Regional offices were replaced with area offices. Postmasters/Installation Heads: Includes persons who serve as managers of retail postal facilities. Supervisors/Managers: Includes persons who supervise other persons or who manage programs or processes. Professional Administrative and Technical Personnel: Includes persons performing administrative assistance and technical support duties. 6 These employment categories are those used by USPS in its Annual Report. The definitions were composed by the author of this report in consultation with USPS. CRS-6 Clerks: Includes persons who work directly with the public in USPS retail facilities and who manually sort mail. Nurses: Includes persons who work in USPS medical units and attend to injured employees. Mail Handlers: Includes persons who move mail containers in mail processing centers. City Delivery Carriers: Includes persons who deliver mail in urban and non-rural areas. Motor Vehicle Operators: Includes persons who drive mail trucks. Rural Delivery Carriers - Full-time: Includes persons who deliver mail in non-urban areas. Special Delivery Messengers: Discontinued position that employed persons to make deliveries that required expedited delivery. http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22864 Building and Equipment Maintenance Personnel: Includes persons who maintain and repair USPS facilities. Vehicle Maintenance Personnel: Includes persons who perform preventive maintenance and repair of USPS vehicles. Non-career Employees Casuals: Includes persons hired temporarily to assist USPS career employees in mail processing facilities. Non-bargaining Temporary: Includes persons hired temporarily to perform administrative duties in USPS offices. Rural Subs/RCA/RCR/AUX: Includes rural substitute carriers, rural carrier associates, rural carrier relief carriers, and auxiliary carriers, all of whom provide temporary assistance to USPS in the delivery of mail in non-urban areas. Postmaster Relief/Leave Replacements: Includes persons who serve temporarily as managers of retail postal facilities. Transitional Employees: Includes persons who staff USPS's Remote Encoding Centers (RECs), which provide assistance to mail processing machines.7 7 If a mail processing machine cannot read an address, it makes an electronic image of the mail piece and transmits the image to a computer at an REC. There an employee attempts to determine the correct address for the mail piece so that it may be reentered into the mail processing stream.