Census Jobs Provide Opportunity for Reaching Hard-to-Count Populations

November 23, 2009 - Posted by Ron Bigler

As part of the 2010 population count, the Census Bureau is planning to hire more than one million temporary workers nationwide.

The initiative is intended to ensure that the hardest-to-count populations – including communities of color, children, persons with disabilities, and people who speak a language other than English – are fully counted. Available positions include census takers, crew leaders, supervisors, and administrative personnel.

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCREF) has partnered with four national civil rights organizations, and will be working closely with local organizations in 13 key areas around the country, to encourage census participation among hard-to-count populations. LCCREF is urging residents to apply for positions with the Census Bureau to help count their communities. As temporary census employees, residents will have an opportunity to play an important role in making sure that their communities are fully counted in the 2010 census.

Census information is used to determine where and how more than $400 billion in government funding is spent each year. Each person who goes uncounted will cost thousands of dollars a year, depriving local communities of funding for essential resources such as schools, health clinics, senior centers, and job training sites. Census information also helps empower communities by making sure that they are included when new congressional and legislative districts are drawn.

Job seekers should contact local Census offices about available positions by visiting 2010.census.gov/2010censusjobs/ or by calling 1-866-861-2010.

Regional Census Office jobs are listed at www.census.gov/field/www/.