From xxxxxx <[email protected]>
Subject Black Families Have a Major Stake in the Future of the Postal Service
Date February 22, 2021 5:20 AM
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[USPS is a vital source of decent jobs for Black workers. It could
also narrow the racial wealth divide by expanding financial services.]
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BLACK FAMILIES HAVE A MAJOR STAKE IN THE FUTURE OF THE POSTAL SERVICE
 
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Sarah Anderson Scott Klinger Brian Wakamo
February 20, 2021
Inequality.org
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_ USPS is a vital source of decent jobs for Black workers. It could
also narrow the racial wealth divide by expanding financial services.
_

William Burris APWU President 2001-2010, APWU

 

The United States Postal Service is under strong pressure to make deep
spending cuts that would be devastating for customers and employees
across the country. Black families have a particularly large stake in
the debate over the future of this vital public service. USPS has long
been a major source of good middle-class jobs for Black workers. Post
offices are also well-positioned to address the needs of the
disproportionate share of African Americans who currently lack access
to affordable financial services.

POSTAL JOBS HAVE LONG BEEN A ROAD TO THE MIDDLE-CLASS FOR AFRICAN
AMERICANS

The Postal Service began employing African Americans shortly after the
Civil War. It became a major source of good, middle class jobs for
African Americans in the early 20th century
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During the 1940s, civil rights advocacy, combined with wartime needs,
created even more opportunities for Black postal workers. By the
mid-1960s, African American leadership had increased significantly,
with the three biggest post offices in the country — New York,
Chicago, and Los Angeles — all headed by Black postmasters. By the
end of the 20th century, African Americans comprised 21 percent of all
U.S. postal employees.

In 2020, Black workers made up nearly a quarter
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workforce — more than double their share of the total U.S. labor
force. According to Institute for Policy Studies analysis of Bureau of
Labor Statistics data, postal workers have the highest average annual
wage ($51,740) and the highest median hourly wage ($25.03) among the
10 occupations with the heaviest representation of Black workers. Four
of these 10 occupations have median hourly wages below $15 per hour.
Of the 10 most heavily African American occupations, the Postal
Service employed the fifth-largest number of workers (see Table).

The Center for Economic and Policy Research notes
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the wage gap between white and Black workers is narrower among postal
workers than among private sector employees. The Economic Policy
Institute has found
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Black workers’ share of USPS jobs is significantly higher than their
share of all public sector jobs.

BLS Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2019
[[link removed]]. Occupation
demographics: BLS Current Population Survey data, 2020
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wages: 53-3052, 21-1018, 31-1120, 33-9032, 39-5011, NAICS 623100,
NAICS 624200, 53-3058, 43-5050, 43-5021. Total postal employees as of
September 2020: 644,000
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MANY BLACK FAMILIES STAND TO GAIN FROM EXPANDED POSTAL FINANCIAL
SERVICES

The pandemic has created enormous challenges for USPS because of the
strain on the workforce due to the virus, a drastic increase in demand
for package deliveries, and plummeting mail volumes as businesses have
cut back on advertising. The agency’s reported financial losses are
also artificially inflated by a mandate to prefund their retiree
health benefits 50 years in advance. This prefunding mandate, which no
other corporation or government agency faces, accounted for 84 percent
of USPS reported financial losses from 2007 to 2020.

Instead of making more cuts to the Postal Service, policymakers should
repeal the pre-funding mandate and explore new revenue sources,
particularly those that would help meet important social needs, such
as postal banking.

Black families would benefit significantly from expanded postal
financial services. According to an FDIC survey
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percent of Black households and 12.2 percent of Latino households did
not have bank accounts in 2019, compared to just 2.5 percent of white
households. Lower-income households and adults with disabilities were
also more likely than other Americans to be “unbanked.”

Families without bank accounts are much more likely to have to use
high-cost financial services. For example, 31.9 percent of unbanked
households use check cashing services, compared to 5.5 percent of all
U.S. households, and 14.4 percent of the unbanked use bill payment
services (e.g., Western Union and MoneyGram), compared to 4.9 percent
of all households.

Among all families without bank accounts, the most-cited reason was
that they couldn’t afford minimum balance requirements. Other major
reasons included distrust of banks, high and unpredictable fees, and
inconvenient locations. A 2019 S&P Global report
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that majority-Black neighborhoods have lost more bank branches than
non-majority-Black neighborhoods. JPMorgan, for example, reduced the
number of branches in majority-Black areas by 22.8 percent from 2010
to 2018, compared to a decline of 0.2 percent in the rest of the
country.

With more than 31,000 post offices
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high level of public trust, USPS is well-positioned to provide
dependable, affordable financial services. According to a 2015 USPS
Office of Inspector General report
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expanding postal financial services such as check-cashing, ATMs, and
electronic money orders could generate as much as $1.1 billion in
annual revenue.

Members of Congress have introduced legislation for two approaches to
expanded postal financial services. These include a Treasury-backed
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system at the post office similar to what existed in the United States
from 1911 to 1967 and individual FedAccounts
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through local post offices in conjunction with the Federal Reserve.

These proposals would provide reliable, affordable alternatives to
predatory financial firms. They could also facilitate distribution of
federal stimulus checks.

Every community across the United States benefits from a strong USPS.
Rather than weakening this vital public infrastructure, policymakers
should focus on strengthening —and expanding — this service to
meet 21st century needs.

_SARAH ANDERSON directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute
for Policy Studies. Scott Klinger is an IPS Associate Fellow and a
chartered financial analyst. Brian Wakamo is an IPS
researcher. Additional Institute for Policy Studies research on the
Postal Service
[[link removed]]._

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