News & information

On June 13, 2018, the Federal Reserve raised the target federal funds rate range by another 0.25%, bringing the target range to 1.75%-2.00% (up from 1.50%-1.75%).

The data released on Friday points to continuing lags in the labor market and its implications for unemployed workers even in the so-called economic expansion.

The release of the November CPI is the latest data that informed the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve to raise their benchmark short-term interest rate

The overall picture for November 2017 is a continuation of the positive news over the last year of rapidly decreasing unemployment greater than many projections by economists.

The index of consumer sentiment was 98.5 for November 2017, down 2.2 percent from October 2017 but an increase in 5.6 percent from November 2016.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) today.

While the news for this month is positive, there are indications that the unemployment rate has fallen largely because workers are leaving the labor force, not because new jobs are being created.

USPS just announced that parcel volume is expected to increase by 10 percent compared with the same holiday period last year. Letter carriers have played an integral role in delivering parcels in the United States since the early 1900s.

A new report by The Century Foundation lays out a framework for how to create an economy that works for people other than top income earners.

BLS’s employment projections for 2016-2026 expects employment to increase by 11.5 million over the next decade. Most of this new growth in jobs likely will come from the health care industries and their associated occupations.

A variety of factors can lead to increases in the price of gasoline, but in this case the increase is most likely due to the recent hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico region.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released the employment numbers for September 2017. The data points to the lingering problem of underemployment in the post-recession landscape.

E-commerce is a rapidly growing percentage of retail sales. This has important implications for USPS as package delivery becomes an increasingly vital part of business operations and revenue.

While Gross Domestic Product is a useful measure of economic activity, it is lacking in a variety of areas.

Much of the income gains and job growth since the recession have been in metropolitan areas, leaving much of rural America behind.

While the media’s portrayal of new numbers from the Census Bureau has been very upbeat, the last couple of years of income growth is not nearly enough to counteract the income losses suffered by most Americans during the Great Recession.

The Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers has remained in the range of 1.6 to 2.3 percent on an annual basis since June 2011.

A new study released this week indicates that there are more customers who visit post offices than official statistics show.

Will Canada help end right-to-work?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics today released its employment numbers for August 2017. The economy added 156,000 jobs, falling short of the 176,000 average for 2017.

A new study outlines the importance of unionization not only to the welfare of their own members, but to the wages and equality of all workers.

October 2016 job and unemployment figures, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as reported by The Washington Post.

The Economic Policy Institute has a great employment statistics website called The State of Working America Data Library, which contains information that may be of interest to letter carriers who are looking at economic trends.

USPS had another operating profit for the second quarter of FY 2016, continuing the trend of strong operating profits. This brings year-to-date FY 2016 operating profits to over $1.8 billion.

This year’s year-to-date operating profit is significantly higher than projected, and higher than the Postal Service’s operating profit at the same time last year.

For the first two months of Fiscal Year 2016’s first quarter (October and November of 2015), the U.S. Postal Service had a $772 million operating profit.

The U.S. Postal Service had a $1.2 billion operating profit in Fiscal Year 2015, the second consecutive year where operating profits went over $1 billion.

The U.S. Postal Service has published its financial results for the month of August 2015 and its year-to-date results through August 2015.

The U.S. Postal Service recently published its results for the month of July 2015 and its year-to-date results through July 2015.

Today, Social Security is celebrating its 80th anniversary.

On Monday, USPS released its financial results for the fiscal third quarter of, and the first nine months of, 2015. So far, things are looking good for fiscal 2015.

On July 30, 1965, a landmark amendment to the Social Security Act was enacted, establishing the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

There was some good news yesterday in the “Fight for $15.”

The U.S. Postal Service recently published its results for the month of May 2015 and its year-to-date results through May 2015.

The U.S. Postal Service recently published its results for the month of April 2015 and its year-to-date results through April 2015.

The Postal Service continues to see delivery point growth.

Last week, a private mail delivery company in the UK called Whistl announced it was suspending delivery operations, on the heels of its loss of a private equity investor’s funding.

In this video, economist Robert Reich explains why expanding Social Security is important and how expanding it could be done—all in under 3 minutes.

On Friday, May 8, the Postal Service reported its results for the fiscal second quarter (January–March 2015) and the first six months of the fiscal year (October 2014–March 2015).

National mail volume averages are not good indicators of what is going on at the local level.

The Postal Service's operating profit continues to rise

Who will side with the Harley majority?

On Feb. 25, the U.S. Postal Service’s financial results for the month of January 2015 were posted on the Postal Regulatory Commission’s website.

What if your credit card company told you: “You will charge a million dollars on your credit card during your life; please enclose the million dollars in your next bill payment. It’s the responsible thing to do.” The U.S. Postal Service’s Office of the Inspector General says that’s what USPS’ requirement to pre-fund its long-term pension and healthcare liabilities is like.

USPS had a $1.1 billion operating profit in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2015, up from $765 million in the same period last year and $144 million two years ago.

A sizeable decrease in the price of oil should translate into a positive impact on the Postal Service’s finances.

Mark your calendars: The Postal Service will report its first fiscal quarter results (the period from Oct. 2014 through Dec. 2014) on Friday, Feb. 6.

Letter carriers may be hearing this week about something called Trade Promotion Authority, also known as “Fast Track.” It may be the most important issue for America’s unions in the first months of the new Congress.

Based on the first two months of FY 2015, this quarter is shaping up to be a good one.

Some news outlets continue to report that the Postal Service is “hemorrhaging cash.” While that line may add drama to a story, it is incorrect.

In the 2014 mid-term elections, voters across the country resoundingly voted for increases in state or local minimum wages.

Consumer Reports (December 2014) ranked the U.S. Postal Service as the top package-delivery provider.

On average, the Postal Service delivers around 11 million packages per day to homes across the United States. This is nearly double the amount of home deliveries made by UPS and almost six times the home deliveries made by FedEx.

Last year, the Postal Service forecast that First-Class Mail volume and revenue would decline. However, in 2014, volume actually declined by only about half of the Postal Service’s forecast and revenue rose by nearly 1 percent.

The Postal Service’s financial results for October 2014—the first month of Fiscal Year 2015—were posted on the Postal Regulatory Commission’s website last night. 

The Postal Service had a $1.4 billion operating profit in 2014, a more than four-fold increase over last year’s $312 million operating profit.

Some people would have you believe that the Postal Service continues to incur net losses because people don’t use letter mail anymore. However, a look at the 2014 Postal Service performance data doesn’t back that argument.

On Oct. 29, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released an updated version of its National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households.

In the third quarter of this year, the Postal Service decided to change the name of a key line in its quarterly results slide presentation. It changed the name of a line that was previously called “Operating Income/(Loss)” to “Controllable Income/(Loss).”

The Economic Policy Institute has released a new report on the minimum wage. One of EPI’s charts really shows the impact of a stalled minimum wage.

Recently, a good question came up at the NALC Leadership Academy about where to find data on the Postal Service. For those who are interested, a lot of information can be found on the websites of these organizations.

This week, the USPS Office of Inspector General put out a request for public comments about post office relocations.

The Center on Wisconsin Strategy and the Economic Policy Institute published a report today advocating increasing the minimum wage.

In mid-November the Postal Service will announce its full-year Fiscal 2014 financial results. At of the end of August 2014, it had a $1.3 billion operating profit, so the 2014 full-year operating results are on track to be very good.

This "Simply-Put" video provides a brief illustration of how to make the core points emerging from Topos research on communicating job quality.

The PRC just posted the Postal Service’s monthly results for August 2014, and the year to date results through August. This is the last results report we will see before the Postal Service announces their full-year results around mid-November.

According to a new interactive map produced by Oxfam America, more than 25 million American workers would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage to $10.10.

Through April 2014, the Postal Service has reported $1.353 billion in operating income. This compares to a $131 million operating loss for the same period last year.