The Census and the Recession
More than 1.2 million part-time jobs will be created to conduct the 2010 Census. Although these jobs will be part-time, they are well paying and will have an impact upon the unemployment rate in the nation. These jobs pay between $12 and $25 per hour. The hiring for the 2010 Census may reduce the unemployment rate temporarily by perhaps 1percentage point.This is stark contrast to the 2000 Census.
The 2000 Census was taken in the spring of 2000 when the economy was operating at full capacity and just beginning the downturn from the technology boom. It was very difficult to find people to work as enumerators and clerks in the Census operation. The 2010 Census is a completely different picture. With an unemployment rate of 10% the Bureau is inundated with applications ... and the applicants are quite highly skilled.
This became apparent with the first massive hiring last April. The Bureau hired 140,000 people to complete the address canvassing effort. People walk the streets with GPS machines to verify every address in the United States. To hire 140,000 people the Bureau planned to have 700,000 applicants but got more than 1.2 million. In addition, the educational level of the applicants was much higher than in the previous two Censuses. The Bureau had a significant larger number of college educated applicants than in the past. One result of this more skilled work force was that the address canvassing was completed in record time with fewer mistakes.
The Bureau is now preparing to hire more than a million people to complete the Census after the initial March mail-in. Current estimates are that between 60 and 65% of the estimated 145 million households in the US will return the questionnaire. The number of households is much higher than originally anticipated because of 8 million new units submitted by local governments. That means that 58 million households will have to be called or visited up to six times by a enumerator. The Census is an extraordinary undertaking, a massive mobilization that gets almost no attention.
The data from the Census and the American Community Survey is used to measure progress and change in the United States. Leaders have taken great pride in the increasing per capita income of the country. The 2010 Census may show a decline from the $21,587 per capita income in 2000 and the median income of $50,740. Income questions on the 2000 Census and the American Community Survey are asked about the previous year (99 and 09). The data will be comparing one of the best economic years in our nation's history to one of the worst.
