Postal Service: NAICS 491

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
Jul.
2009
Aug.
2009
Sep.
2009
Oct.
2009

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
4th quarter
2008
1st quarter
2009
2nd quarter
2009
3rd quarter
2009

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,
2008

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

7,050

Postal service clerks

77,800

Postal service mail carriers

354,570

Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators

185,610

Postmasters and mail superintendents

26,400

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Earnings

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

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2008
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

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

$31.91 $31.58 $66,380 $65,690

Postal service clerks

$24.54 $24.11 $51,040 $50,150

Postal service mail carriers

$23.94 $22.58 $49,800 $46,970

Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators

$24.05 $21.87 $50,020 $45,490

Postmasters and mail superintendents

$28.52 $28.44 $59,310 $59,150

(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 2005 2006 2007 2008

Fatalities

 

Number of fatalities

21 21 14 (P) 19

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
Jul.
2009
Aug.
2009
Sep.
2009
Oct.
2009

Producer price index

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(P) 186.8 (P) 186.8 (P) 186.8 (P) 186.8

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
2nd quarter
2008
3rd quarter
2008
4th quarter
2008
1st quarter
2009

Number of establishments

 

Federal government

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30,499 30,499 30,474 (P) 30,487

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

Data series Back
data
2004 2005 2006 2007

Labor productivity index, output per hour

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110.035 111.199 111.272 112.029

Percent change from previous year

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2.0 1.1 0.1 0.7

Labor index, total labor hours

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91.296 91.466 91.005 89.235

Percent change from previous year

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-1.9 0.2 -0.5 -1.9

Output index

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100.458 101.709 101.262 99.969

Percent change from previous year

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0.1 1.2 -0.4 -1.3

Unit labor costs index

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118.391 120.994 126.840 146.663

Percent change from previous year

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3.3 2.2 4.8 15.6

(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: November 20, 2009