{
  "id": "RS22864",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RS22864",
  "active": true,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 446707,
      "date": "2015-10-21",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T18:07:32.010022",
      "title": "U.S. Postal Service Workforce Size and Employment Categories, FY1995-FY2014",
      "summary": "This report provides data from the past 20 years on the size and composition of the U.S. Postal Service\u2019s (USPS\u2019s) workforce. Reforms to the size and composition of the workforce have been an integral part of USPS\u2019s strategy to reduce costs and regain financial solvency, particularly between FY2007 and FY2014. Since 2007, USPS has experienced significant revenue losses that have affected its ability to manage its expenses. Personnel costs are one of the primary drivers of USPS\u2019s operating expenses. As such, USPS has employed strategies to reform the size and composition of its workforce in an effort to cut personnel costs, primarily through attrition and separation incentives and increased use of lower-cost employees. These strategies reduced personnel expenses between FY2013 and FY2014. The sustainability of these reduced expenses and their overall impact on USPS\u2019s ability to regain financial solvency, however, is unclear. \nThe size of the USPS workforce has declined in the past 20 years. The number of employees has dropped by 257,095 (29.4%) in the past 20 years, from 874,972 in FY1995 to 617,877 in FY2014. USPS, however, had 163 more employees at the end of FY2014 than it did at the end of FY2013. Declines in workforce size between FY2010 and FY2014 were driven, in part, by USPS\u2019s efforts to reduce its workforce size through attrition and separation incentives. Between FY2010 and FY2014, 55,473 career employees accepted a separation incentive to retire or resign early. On January 9, 2015, USPS instituted a reduction in force for 249 postmasters who did not accept a separation incentive offered in 2014. \nThe composition of USPS\u2019s workforce has also changed over the past two decades. USPS categorizes its workforce into two types of employees: career and non-career. Career employees serve in permanent positions on a full-time or part-time basis and typically receive full federal benefits. Non-career employees serve in time-limited or otherwise temporary positions and can often perform the full range of duties of career counterparts at lower wage rates, which might lower personnel costs.\nUSPS has increased the number of non-career employees in an effort to reduce personnel costs, particularly since FY2011. Between FY2011 and FY2014, the number of non-career employees increased by 46.1%, from 88,699 to 129,577 employees. The influx in non-career employees since FY2011 is primarily attributable to the establishment of three new non-career positions: postal support employees, city carrier assistants, and mail handler assistants. Labor union contracts governing these positions, which went into effect in 2011 and 2013, effectively raised the total number of non-career employees that can comprise the USPS workforce. Career employees, however, continued to comprise the majority of the total workforce in FY2014 (79%).\nThis report will be updated as events warrant.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": true,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "encoding": "utf-8",
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RS22864",
          "sha1": "0b4e5d2925417a8038508756372df5c0bfbf89ac",
          "filename": "files/20151021_RS22864_0b4e5d2925417a8038508756372df5c0bfbf89ac.html",
          "images": null
        },
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "encoding": null,
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RS22864",
          "sha1": "5c6f793524839f9d74d795394e1653f2d25415d3",
          "filename": "files/20151021_RS22864_5c6f793524839f9d74d795394e1653f2d25415d3.pdf",
          "images": null
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc491403/",
      "id": "RS22864_2014Oct07",
      "date": "2014-10-07",
      "retrieved": "2015-01-27T19:40:46",
      "title": "U.S. Postal Service Workforce Size and Employment Categories, FY1994-FY2013",
      "summary": "This report provides data from the past 20 years on the size of the U.S. Postal Service's (USPS's) workforce. Further, this report examines trends in its workforce composition, particularly focusing on shifts in the ratio between career and non-career employment.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20141007_RS22864_da83e711a40029ecdb2687711cc9764a16755794.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20141007_RS22864_da83e711a40029ecdb2687711cc9764a16755794.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Postal service",
          "name": "Postal service"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Postal employees",
          "name": "Postal employees"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Labor",
          "name": "Labor"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Employment",
          "name": "Employment"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc820648/",
      "id": "RS22864_2013Mar29",
      "date": "2013-03-29",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "U.S. Postal Service Workforce Size and Employment Categories, FY1987-FY2012",
      "summary": null,
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20130329_RS22864_acdefb8e9ff37b3ddc347be50f6559e3603a834c.pdf"
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc812643/",
      "id": "RS22864_2008Apr22",
      "date": "2008-04-22",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "U.S. Postal Service Workforce Size and Employment Categories, 1987-2007",
      "summary": null,
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20080422_RS22864_653deffa41549ab9597d465d66b7e3da39fdbed4.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20080422_RS22864_653deffa41549ab9597d465d66b7e3da39fdbed4.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "American Law"
  ]
}