Drafted as the Census Act of 1790,
Article I, Section II of the Constitution states that “each and every
person more than sixteen years of age, whether heads of families or
not, belonging to any Family within any division of a district made or
established within the United States, shall be, and hereby is, obliged
to render to such assistant of the division, a true account, if
required, to the best of his or her knowledge, of all and every person
belonging to such family respectively, according to the several
descriptions aforesaid, on pain of forfeiting twenty dollars, to be
sued for and recovered by such assistant, the one half for his own use,
and the other half for the use of the United States.”
While the fine in 1790 was $20, today
it’s $100. So to refrain from giving the government any more money to
waste, it’d be wise not to leave those census questionnaires in limbo.
But likely, thousands of people will ultimately leave the census
unanswered. Because of this, the government hires any U.S. citizen age
18 or older to apply to be a census taker and earn $13.50 per hour.
“The decennial census is held every 10
years at the turn of the decade and now is time to recruit,” said David
Walsh, manager of the Syracuse census office. “Residents will be mailed
questionnaires in mid-March and we will be sending people into the
field starting in late April to follow up on any questionnaires we have
not received, which will conclude in late July.”
The only way to inquire about census job
opportunities is to call (866) 861-2010, which will provide all of the
necessary information on the hiring process. If you set something up,
you will have to take a 30-minute, 28-question test at a designated
location. Walsh noted that the Syracuse census office is hiring more
than 1,000 temporary and part-time workers to cover five counties:
Onondaga, Cayuga, Cortland, Oswego and Wayne.
“The philosophy of hiring census takers
is to hire people to work in the neighborhoods where they live,”
continued Walsh. “We seek to have neighbors counting neighbors and in
that manner, we have people who know the neighborhoods best and also
minimize travel time and expense.”
All census takers are compensated for
the mileage they accumulate on the job. They are also seeking people
with nights and weekends available, as that is the most likely time
people will be home to answer in person, which gives applicants who
have full-time day jobs the chance to pick up some extra work.
Any of us who have had a home activity
interrupted to listen to some spiel from a door-to-door pitchman knows
it can be an invasive nuisance. But the census is different, as those
door-knockers are quasi-government agents. “We have our workers remind
folks that the census is required by the U.S. Constitution,” Walsh
pointed out. “In that spirit, it generally results in their
cooperation.”
The Government Accountability Office
estimated that the 2010 census will cost $11 billion, with $500 million
of that paid to Lockheed Martin to capture and standardize data. The
information collected will help certain communities receive more than
$400 billion in federal funds for improvements or construction of
facilities such as hospitals, job training centers, schools, senior
centers, bridges and tunnels, and emergency services. The results will
also determine the number of seats each state receives in the House of
Representatives based on population shifts, with early projections
predicting that Texas will gain the most new seats with four, while
Ohio is expected to lose the most with two being removed; New York will
likely lose one seat.
The U.S. population based on the 2000
census was 281 million, a 13 percent increase from 248 million in 1990;
after the 2010 census, it’s expected there will be 300 million of us.
Besides just taking a head count, the census questionnaire also helps
to research the local and national demographic of the United States.
From 2000, population ethnicity was said to be 75.1 percent white, 12.5
percent Hispanic, 12.3 percent African American, 3.6 percent Asian and
2.4 percent multiracial. There were no questions about sexual
orientation, although this year the census will count same sex
marriages in states where it’s recognized, including New York.
Walsh noted that although it was looked
into, the use of electronic means to conduct the census will not be
used this year, for what he said are “security purposes,” but it could
happen in the future. So plan on getting a knock on your door if you
don’t fill out and mail your forms. For more information, visit
www.census.gov.
