Postal Service: NAICS 491

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About the Postal Service subsector

The postal service subsector is part of the transportation and warehousing sector.

The Postal Service subsector includes the activities of the National Post Office and its subcontractors operating under a universal service obligation to provide mail services, and using the infrastructure required to fulfill that obligation. These services include delivering letters and small parcels. These articles can be described as those that can be handled by one person without using special equipment. This allows the collection, pick-up, and delivery operations to be done with limited labor costs and minimal equipment. Sorting and transportation activities, where necessary, are generally mechanized. The restriction to small parcels distinguishes these establishments from those in the transportation industries. These establishments may also provide express delivery services using the infrastructure established for provision of basic mail services.

North American Industry Classification System

The postal service subsector consists of a single industry group, Postal Service: NAICS 4911.

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in postal service. These data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys. The following tables present an overview of the industry including mass layoffs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Layoffs

Data series Back
data		 Sep.
2011		 Oct.
2011		 Nov.
2011		 Dec.
2011

Layoffs

  

Mass layoff events

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 - - - -

Initial claimants for unemployment benefits

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 - - - -

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Extended Mass Layoffs

Data series Back
data		 1st quarter
2011		 2nd quarter
2011		 3rd quarter
2011		 4th quarter
2011

Extended mass layoff events
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 - - (P) - (P) -

Separations
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 - - (P) - (P) -

Initial claimants
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 - - (P) - (P) -

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2010

First-line supervisors/managers of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators

 5,840

Postal service clerks

 66,800

Postal service mail carriers

 324,990

Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators

 145,630

Postmasters and mail superintendents

 25,160

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Earnings

Recent hourly and annual earnings for occupations commonly found in postal service.

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2010
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

First-line supervisors/managers of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators

 $33.34 $32.84 $69,350 $68,310

Postal service clerks

 $25.53 $25.35 $53,100 $52,730

Postal service mail carriers

 $25.90 $24.16 $53,860 $50,250

Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators

 $25.52 $23.24 $53,080 $48,350

Postmasters and mail superintendents

 $28.99 $29.09 $60,300 $60,500

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Work-related Fatalities

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities in postal service.

Data series 2007 2008 2009 2010

Fatalities

  

Number of fatalities

 14 20 14 (P) 14

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Prices

This section provides industry-specific pricing information. The producer price index measures the percentage change in prices that domestic producers receive for goods and services. The prices included in the producer price index are from the first commercial transaction.

Data series Back
data		 Sep.
2011		 Oct.
2011		 Nov.
2011		 Dec.
2011

Producer price index
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 (P) 191.6 (P) 191.6 (P) 191.6 (P) 191.6

Percent change from previous month

   (P) 0.0% (P) 0.0% (P) 0.0% (P) 0.0%

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in postal service. Also included in this section is information on productivity, presented as the rate of change in output per hour of workers in the industry.

Establishments

Data series Back
data		 3rd quarter
2010		 4th quarter
2010		 1st quarter
2011		 2nd quarter
2011

Number of establishments

  

Federal government
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 30,341 30,333 (P) 30,298 (P) 30,035

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

Data series Back
data		 2006 2007 2008 2009

Labor productivity index, output per hour
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 104.540 105.251 103.778 105.208

Percent change from previous year
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 0.1 0.7 -1.4 1.4

Labor index, total labor hours
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 94.487 92.649 89.402 77.848

Percent change from previous year
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 -0.5 -1.9 -3.5 -12.9

Output index
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 98.776 97.515 92.779 81.903

Percent change from previous year
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 -0.4 -1.3 -4.9 -11.7

Unit labor costs index
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 110.554 127.833 127.505 133.903

Percent change from previous year
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 4.8 15.6 -0.3 5.0

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

Other BLS Resources

Career Guide to Industries

To learn about careers from an industry perspective, see the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: February 10, 2012