Recruiting efforts for 2020 census takers are underway at the University of Oregon. The Census Bureau is planning on hiring employees into February and it is willing to pay above minimum wage to get trustworthy applicants.
The United States Census Bureau is getting ready to hire over 3,500 employees in Lane County to undertake the task of collecting information on participating households in the area in 2020, according to Recruiting Manager Steven Merge from the Eugene Area Census Office. The 2020 Census will have lasting implications on federal resource allocation and congressional district redrawing.
In a public meeting last year, the head of the 2020 census Albert Fontenot said, “The one thing that keeps me up at night is the one thing I have less control over, and that’s our ability to recruit and hire.”
According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the unemployment rate in Eugene/Springfield was at 4.3% as of September 2019. Recruiting a large workforce in a small pool of available workers may prove difficult for the bureau.
“Students should be very interested in applying, because it pays $17.50 an hour and the part-time jobs are flexible,” Merge said. “That way, they can tailor the census job around their academic requirements.”
Applicants are thoroughly vetted to make sure they are qualified to be conducting such an important survey that only comes every 10 years. According to Misty Slater, a Census spokesperson for Oregon, Nevada and Idaho, all candidates must pass an F.B.I. background check and fingerprint check.
After passing a background check, all employees must also take a lifetime oath to protect the data that they see. Binding confidentiality laws for census employees are important due to the personal information they collect.
A Census Bureau report from January 2019 highlights some of the worries researchers have for the potential turnout of the 2020 census. Trust in government has been on the decline and at about 20% and the same report said that many respondents to a survey by the bureau responded that they were not “very likely” or “extremely likely” to respond to the census. According to the report’s authors, this lack of enthusiasm to participate is troubling as intent to participate is usually under-reported.
The report also mentions differing concerns about data privacy between minority respondents and white respondents. About 42% of Asian, 39% of African American and 35% of Hispanic respondents said they were “extremely concerned” or “very concerned” that the Census Bureau would not keep answers to the 2020 Census confidential.
In July 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that a citizenship question would not be included in the 2020 census but there are still sensitive topics asked in the survey like the sexuality and race of participating individuals.
All jobs working for the census are temporary and start in March with paid training and end in July when the census is officially finished. Some employees may be let go if there is not sufficient work in the area, according to the census job site.
The Census Bureau will be attending the career fair in the EMU Ballroom on Nov. 14 at 4 p.m.