Pay Statistics for Entry Level Jobs
The average starting pay for an entry-level postal employee is $21 an hour with benefits. This is extremely competitive in the marketplace. Please see the following table for an example of starting pay for a popular entry-level position, which is a Mail Carrier, specifically, the Rural Carrier Associate (RCA).
This data is official, sourced from the USPS, and reported here by the National Rural Letter Carriers Association.
The $21 per hour on average claim asserted on this site is based on data from pay tables like this one.
Rural Carrier Associates do not typically receive benefits. The wages alone for this position range from $21 to $26 per hour.
Other entry-level positions, like Window Clerk, City Mail Carrier, Mail Handler, and Mail Processor are eligible for benefits after a typical probationary period determined by local postal authorities on a case per case basis.
The average starting pay (wages only) for these positions range from $15 to $20 per hour.
When you add the value of benefits (worth about 33% of wages, as reported above), the pay range for these positions is therefore $20 to $26 per hour, in total.
And contrary to what many say, benefits are made available in various forms when postal employees first start. Granted, they do improve over time, as with most companies.
Regardless of which entry-level position you pursue, you can expect your total pay to be about $21 an hour, on average.
Compensation and Benefits – Lifetime Career
Postal employees are among the highest paid workers throughout the government sector. Last year, the average postal worker made just over $72,000.Both hourly and annual pay statistics are significant, especially given that employees are not required to have a college or high school diploma, or previous experience.
Without the value of benefits included, the following is a table of wages only for postal employees published by the United States Department of Labor on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website.
Keep in mind, these numbers do not include federal benefits, which are paid to career employees. These benefits are valued at 33% of gross wages, as reported by the New York Times referencing data published by the Congressional Budget Office.
When you add 33% in benefits value to any of the job categories shown in the table above, you see that the average (mean) pay, with benefits, range from a low of $64,837 to a high of $91,480.
The claim made that the average postal worker makes just over $72,000 a year is based on these numbers, which are provided by the United States Department of Labor Statistics, and the Congressional Budget Office.
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), government sector employees with some college education or only a high school diploma are paid about 15 to 20% more than their private sector equivalents, on average.
So, an individual performing a certain job with the US Postal Service is likely to make 15% to 20% more than someone doing that same task with a private company like UPS, FedEx or DHL.
Because the organizations referenced here are careful to report statistics that are fully vetted, many times the data is a year or two in arrears. As with most jobs, pay continues to increase year over year, so the statistics cited here are likely to be less than what is current now.