HUFFINGTON
07.22.12
AP PHOTO/SUSAN WALSH
GOINGPOSTAL
sary, however, some question the
timing. Public-sector job losses
due to budget cuts have been a
huge drag on the economic recovery, wiping out many of the gains
made in the private sector. As the
economist Dean Baker has pointed out,150,000 jobs cut from the
postal service would equal several weeks’ worth of recent job
growth in this economy.
“Even if we say that’s a good
thing to do, it would be much better if we could put that off,” Baker
says. “I understand from an accounting standpoint they want
[the workers] off the books as
soon as possible, but from an economic standpoint, it’s less money
going into the economy.”
Another issue is the level of pay
earned by postal workers. The job
has traditionally been seen as a
gateway to the middle class, with
wages that reflect that — a situation that causes resentment among
some, in today’s low-pay economy.
As with a lot of public-sector
jobs, workers in the private sector
tend to view postal employees as
overpaid. Paradoxically, the postal
service generally receives high
marks from the public, with about
three quarters of first-class mail
customers offering a favorable review of the agency, comparable to
FedEx and UPS, according to sur-
Rep.
Darrell Issa
(R-Calif.)
checks his
watch while
speaking
to reporters
in June.