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The Census Bureau Wants You
-- by George Selby
"Census 2000 will be the largest peacetime mobilization in our nation’s history," said Commerce Secretary Daley, "and hiring and retaining well-qualified workers will be critical towards achieving a fair and accurate account." Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt has urged everyone interested in a census job to call the agency’s toll-free number, 1-888-325-7733. Additional information about Census 2000 jobs, including the addresses of local census offices may be found on the Census Bureau website. Census 2000 jobs are ideal for retirees, students and others seeking part-time work. And, for the first time, most federal employees will be allowed to work on the census outside of their normal work hours. Pay rates range from $8.25 to $18.50 per hour. People hired will work primarily out of the 520 local census offices across the country. Generally, each of the local census offices will require about 1,000 workers, most of them during a period of four to six weeks. The largest number will be needed beginning in mid-April when census workers visit households that do not return their Census 2000 forms by mail. During the course of census operations, there will be more than 860,000 employment slots to be filled! Some workers will be hired for one slot and then rehired later to fill another slot. According to Dr. Prewitt, "Our goal is to have a pool of local people who are familiar with their communities and committed to a successful count in their own neighborhoods. The census has a major impact on communities nationwide in terms of apportioning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, state legislative redistricting and to help determine the share of federal program funds made available to state, local and tribal governments over the next decade. Data gathered will affect decisions on many matters of local importance, including education, health care, employment, housing, transportation and the environment. Hence the census slogan: "It’s Your Future...Don’t Leave It Blank." About the Author George Selby, a member, Federal Communicators Network, is Supervisory Marketing Specialist in the Marketing Services Office, U.S. Census Bureau, in Suitland, MD. You may reach him at (301) - 457-3110 or george.selby@ccmail.census.gov.
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A
nationwide recruiting campaign is underway to find workers to fill
thousands of short-term employment slots during Census
2000. To adequately staff the temporary local census offices in
every state, a pool of some 3 million applicants will be needed.
To date, 1 million applications have been received.