U.S. Postal Service's Workforce has Stopped Shrinking, at Least Temporarily

The U.S. Postal Service recently reported having 616,025 active employees, just 362 fewer than a year ago. The number of full-timers actually inched up by 1,464, to 467,844. That’s a far cry from the previous six years, when the annual workforce reductions ranged from 13,000 to nearly 53,000.

Downsizing of the postal workforce seems likely to resume soon, however. USPS is moving forward with a plan to close about 80 processing centers in the next few months, which could lead to a reduction of 15,000 jobs. A recent effort to block the plan in Congress has apparently fizzled out.