| Organizing begins for '10 census taking |
|
By Joel Stottrup The job to count everyone in the United States has begun and getting an accurate count will benefit the population, U.S. Census Bureau officials and the state demographer say. Representation in Congress and federal aid to localities are some of the benefits, and those who are needed to help take the count can also benefit through employment. The U.S Census Bureau makes the head count every 10 years and it will require hiring enumerators, also known as census takers. Also being hired are crew leaders and field operation supervisors, according to Roberta Thorsvik, manager of the Local Census Office (LCO) located in Duluth. The Duluth office is in charge of the census for an 11-county LCO in Minnesota that includes Mille Lacs County. Sherburne County, which a small portion of the city of Princeton resides in, is part of the eight county Anoka-Coon Rapids LCO. The other counties in that LCO are Anoka, Benton, Chisago, Isanti, Morrison, Stearns and Wright. The Duluth LCO is looking to hire for 1,000 temporary, part-time positions, of which most of the positions will be census takers, Thorsvik said last week. The pay for a census taker will be $11.50 per hour. The wage for the crew leaders and field operation supervisors will be in a range from above $11.50 to as much as $14.50 per hour, according to Thorsvik. The hours will be flexible and there will be mileage reimbursement, said Thorsvik, who suggested it could even complement a full-time job a person might have. The census takers will be working evenings and weekends when most people are home, said Thorsvik. Anyone interested in applying for the job may call toll free at 1 866-861-2010. Testing sites and schedules will be set up for applicants to take a 30-minute, multiple choice written test on basic skills to help determine if they should be hired. The questions will cover math, reading, comprehension, alphabetizing, and road directions, according to Thorsvik. Those who are hired will undergo training in April and May, Thorsvik noted. Census takers will be the ones who will go out to knock on doors and gather census information from homes in which census forms are not mailed back. The Census Bureau’s web site states that the census forms should be mailed out in the middle of March. Dave Thompson, manager of the Anoka-Coon Rapids LCO, said that the mailings could start as early as February but should have arrived at households by the end of March. The Census Bureau is calling April 1, 2010, census day. Thompson explained that it means that when people fill out their census questionnaire form, the information is supposed to relate to April 1 this year such as how many people were residing in the household on that day. Some people may be filling out their census form on a different day than April 1, Thompson explained. The questionnaire forms are the short type, census officials are emphasizing. Census Bureau officials are promoting the statement that it will take a person an average of 10 minutes to fill out the 10-question form. The questions relate to name, gender, age, address and race and are being asked for each person in every household. A reminder notice will sent out to households who do not turn in their filled out forms and if there is still no response then the census takers are to go out to seek the information. “One of the key things people need to know,” Thorsvik said, “is that if they send back the forms [correctly filled out], no one will be out visiting their home. There are people who may not want someone coming to their household.” Thorsvik and census officials all state that the census information will be kept confidential within the bureau. State demographer comments State Demographer Tom Gillaspy was asked last week if people lie about the information they put on the census forms. “We prefer they don’t,” Gillaspy said. “We’d really like them to tell the truth.” First of all, the federal code under protects the personal data as confidential for 72 years, he said. “Only if you personally ask for your own, can it get released and that is under special circumstances,” Gillaspy continued. Even then, it is not an easy thing to do, “but you can if you have to,” he said. An example of that, Gillaspy explained, is if, at nearly 62-years-old, a person wants to apply to receive Social Security and the birth certificate was not available because the courthouse had burned down. The census information is an accepted source to supply that information, said Gillaspy. Back to the accuracy part, inaccurate data decades later when it is released can mess up a family member attempt to piece together family tree information, Gillaspy added. Also, not being counted is to the disadvantage of the population, Gillaspy and census officials note. That is because population information helps determine federal aid which is more than $400 billion to states and communities each year, according to the Census Bureau. The data is also relied on to determine how many seats each state gets to have in the U.S. House of Representatives, and is used to do the required redrawing of Congressional districts in states. Minnesota currently has eight of these and would not want to lose any. Minnesota’s north suburban U.S. Congressional District 6 occupied by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, for example, is currently 99,000-people too large for the correct district balance, according to Gillaspy. All the congressional districts are supposed to be balanced in population so that there is equal representation of people, Gillaspy explained. Minnesota’s south suburban District 3 that has John Kline as the Congressional representative, is about 66,000 too large in population, said Gillaspy. Census information is also used to determine the locations of schools, roads, hospitals, job training, child care, senior citizen centers and more, the bureau states. A number of people during the 2000 census received long forms to fill out, and that was done for “substantial legal reasons,” Gillaspy said. For example, the government needed information to help plan for Social Security, the flow of federal dollars and to get an idea of how many people were turning 65, he said. A small percentage of the population will now receive an annual American Community Survey in the years between 2010 and the next decennial census to get this same kind of information, according to the Census Bureau. As for the 2010 census, “there will be a tremendous effort to make sure everyone is counted,” Gillaspy said. That is not only for the reasons cited, but also because it will help show “big changes going on in our society,” Gillaspy said. “We can then know how many people there are of a particular age to determine how road signs should be built, the kind of accesses and a whole variety of issues,” he said. The first U.S census was taken in 1790 and, the American Revolution was fought in part on the basis of what the census is trying to determine, Gillaspy said. The no-taxes-without-representation complaint that the colonists had with the British government was not over taxes, Gillaspy said. Instead it was over the colonists not having a say in what was being done to them, he explained. Therefore, participating in the census, Gillaspy said, is “one of the most important things we can do.” Comments (3)
 ...
written by S Bigger , February 14, 2010 I dont understand why they need to know race and gender. I am willing to say how many in household but that is the extent of information I plan on giving. ...
written by bob , January 30, 2010 awesome more statism.... ...
written by Peacenic , January 30, 2010 "Organizing begins...." Unsettling! Write comment
|
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
