U.S. Postal Service Workforce Size and Employment Categories, 1986-2006
Order Code RS22714
August 29, 2007
U.S. Postal Service Workforce Size and
Employment Categories, 1986-2006
Kevin R. Kosar
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
Service (USPS) 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 over
784,000 persons. USPS’s workforce declined about 1% during the past two decades,
and nearly 12% in the past five years. The number of career employees declined over
6% since 1986, and the number of non-career employees increased more than 62%.
Clerks, who staff retail counters at post offices and manually sort mail, dropped about
26%. Rural mail delivery employees, however, grew more than 84%, and three
categories of employees directly involved in the transportation of mail prior to its
delivery grew between 8.9% and 26.9%. This report will be updated in the first session
of each Congress to include the most recently available data.
Data Source
Each year, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) issues an Annual Report (herein, the
Report) that includes data on its workforce. 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.1 The Report also provides breakdowns of the number of workers by
employment category (e.g., regional offices personnel, clerks, and nurses). The Appendix
1 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 non-career employees data.
CRS-2
of this report contains brief descriptions of these employment categories. This report
provides workforce data drawn from the Reports covering 1986 through 2006.2
Data Analysis
Workforce Size. USPS’s workforce declined 1.1% during the past two decades,
from 793,474 to 784,835 employees (Table 1 and Figure 1). Recent years have been
marked by a more precipitous decline. Since 2001, the decrease has been almost 12%,
from 891,005 to 784,835. Clerks fell from 269,792 to 213,920 (20.7%); city delivery
carriers declined from 240,295 to 224,400 (6.6%); and supervisors/managers decreased
from 38,754 to 33,201 (14.3%).
Career Employees vs. Non-Career Employees. The number of career
employees decreased 6.4% between 1986 and 2006, from 731,735 to 684,774, while non-
career USPS employees increased 62.1%, from 61,739 to 100,061 (Table 1). Moreover,
half of the 18 career employee categories had fewer employees in 2006 than in 1986 (e.g.,
the number of postmasters/installation heads declined 7.0%).3 Meanwhile, all five of the
non-career employment categories had more employees than in 1986.
Despite these declines, career employees constituted the vast majority (>85%) of
USPS’s workforce during the past two decades (Table 2, Figure 1). The percentage of
USPS’s workforce consisting of career employees did decline from 92.2% to 85.9%
between 1986 and 1996, but it then increased to 87.1% in 2001 and 87.3% in 2006.
Employment Categories. While the size of each employment category shifted
over the past 20 years, three trends are marked. First, the “rural” employment categories
grew significantly. Full-time rural delivery carriers rose from 35,938 to 66,344 (84.6%),
and rural substitute carriers/rural carrier associates/rural carrier relief carriers/auxiliary
carriers (rural subs/RCA/RCR/AUX) increased from 31,808 to 59,087 (85.8%). In
contrast, the number of city delivery carriers was almost the same in 1986 and 2006, but
it dropped 6.6% in the past five years.
Second, three categories of USPS employees directly involved in the transportation
of mail prior to its delivery grew between 8.9% and 26.9% since 1986. Casuals increased
8.9%, from 20,675 to 22,518; mail handlers rose 18.8%, from 48,095 to 57,158; and
motor vehicle operators climbed 26.9%, from 6,866 to 8,715. (Vehicle maintenance
personnel, who play a supporting role in mail transportation, increased 22%, from 4,526
to 5,521.)
2 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-
2006).
3 Two of these career employment positions, regional office employees and special delivery
messengers, were eliminated.
CRS-3
Third, clerks, who staff the retail counters at post officees and manually sort mail,
decreased 26.3% in the past two decades, from 290,225 to 213,920.4
Table 1. Number of USPS Employees by Employment Category,
1986-2006 (Five-Year Intervals)
Employment
Change
Change (%)
1986
1991
1996
2001
2006
Category
1986-2006
1986-2006
Career Employees
Headquarters 2,000
2,408
1,951
1,836
2,761
761
38.1%
Headquarters —
5,552
5,715
4,020
5,653
4,402
-1,150
-20.7%
Related Field Units
Inspection Service —
4,262
4,316
4,432
4,047
3,130
-1,132
-26.6%
Field
Inspector General
0
0
0
713
1,071
1,071
—
Area Offices
0
0
1,541
1,377
1,395
1,395
—
Personnel
R
egional Offices
595
559
0
0
0
-595
-100.0%
Postmasters/
27,352
27,100
26,489
26,113
25,429
-1,923
-7.0%
Installation Heads
Supervisors/
40,723
43,801
35,282
38,754
33,201
-7,522
-18.5%
Managers
Prof. Admin. and
8,717
9,888
11,035
9,764
8,539
-178
-2.0%
Tech. Personnel
Clerks
290,225 280,918 276,964 269,792 213,920
-76,305
-26.3%
Nurses
328
296
188
180
166
-162
-49.4%
Mail Handlers
48,095
50,770
58,305
60,102
57,158
9,063
18.8%
City Delivery
224,106 232,182 238,370 240,295 224,400
294
0.1%
Carriers
Motor Vehicle
6,866
7,265
8,429
9,325
8,715
1,849
26.9%
Operators
Rural Delivery
35,938
42,876
48,340
59,790
66,344
30,406
84.6%
Carriers — Full-Time
Special Delivery
2,295
1,870
1,463
0
0
-2,295
-100.0%
Messengers
Bldg. and Equip.
30,155
34,166
39,272
42,604
39,986
9,831
32.6%
Maint. Personnel
Vehicle Maintenance
4,526
4,831
4,882
5,558
5,521
995
22.0%
Personnel
Subtotal
731,735 748,961 760,963 775,903 684,774
-46,961
-6.4%
4 Postmasters and postmaster replacements also perform retail activities in some instances.
CRS-4
Employment
Change
Change (%)
1986
1991
1996
2001
2006
Category
1986-2006
1986-2006
Non-Career Employees
Casuals
20,675
25,666
24,696
30,317
22,518
1,843
8.9%
Non-Bargaining
309
548
654
761
1,135
826
267.3%
Temporary
Rural
Subs/RCA/RCR/
31,808
44,020
53,768
58,134
59,087
27,279
85.8%
AUX
Postmaster
Relief/Leave
8,947
12,198
12,724
12,313
12,188
3,241
36.2%
Replacements
Transitional
0
0
33,066
13,577
5,133
5,133
—
Employees
Subtotal
61,739
82,432 124,908 115,102 100,061
38,322
62.1%
Total Employees
793,474 831,393 885,871 891,005 784,835
-8,639
-1.1%
Source: CRS analysis of data provided by USPS.
Figure 1. Number of USPS Employees, 1986-2006
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
01986
1991
1996
2001
2006
Non-Career
Career
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
1986
1991
1996
2001
2006
Career Employees
92.2%
90.1%
85.9%
87.1%
87.3%
Non-Career Employees
7.8%
9.9%
14.1%
12.9%
12.7%
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 Categories5
Career Employees
Headquarters: Includes persons who work in a variety of capacities at the two central
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.
5 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
Professional Administrative and Technical Personnel: Includes persons performing
administrative assistance and technical support duties.
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.
Building and Equipment Maintenance Personnel: Includes persons who maintain and
repair USPS facilities.
Vehicle Maintenance Personnel: Includes persons who perform preventative
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.6
6 If a mail processing machine cannot read the address on a mail piece, 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.