Good pay, short commutes and flexible hours are among the enticements for seeking temporary work as a temporary census taker in the Bay Area and applications are now being accepted through Dec. 31.
Jobs will be following up with households next spring that have not responded by filling out the census form and the stakes for getting an accurate count are high.
Final figures will determine federal and state funding that comes to the area over the next decade for such needs as transportation, housing, and health care, Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson said in a presentation earlier this year.
Sixty percent of Alameda County’s revenue comes from federal and state sources and population figures also determine federal and state elected representation, which could shrink if the count is not complete.
“There are a number of things that impact you directly and indirectly. There’s a lot of data that’s gathered,” said Carson, “If you think about it logically, it gives us the basis for projections over the
next 10 years.”
And there is just one shot to get the tally right before final figures are submitted and “calculations of how much money to provide” are made, he said. “That stays in granite for 10 years.”
The county estimates that each person not counted results in an annual funding loss of $1,000, and that an undercount of 6 percent would translate to $1 billion less in allocations over the ensuing decade.
The U.S. Census Bureau is recruiting hundreds of temporary census takers in the Bay Area for work that will primarily be in May and June.
The hourly pay rate is $30 in San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties; $25 in Marin, Alameda and Contra Costa counties; and $20 in Napa, Solano and Santa Cruz counties.
The national tally, done every 10 years starting with the inaugural census in 1790, will be transitioning from the traditional paper forms.
“The 2020 census is radically different,” Carson said. “This will be the very first that households will do online. But the systems have not been thoroughly tested.”
The county estimates that more than 26 percent of its population, an estimated 413,000 residents, falls in the classification of hard-to-count, including college students, those without homes, and immigrants, that census takers will try to reach.
To apply for work as a census taker fill out the online application at 2020census.gov/jobs. Interviews for positions will be held in January and February.
For more information about 2020 Census jobs, call (855) 562-2020.
14 comments
I’ve already applied but won’t know until sometime January if accepted. I hope so because I would like to know more about the whole process.
That’s a good hourly rate for temporary work, BUT following up on folks who failed to submit their census form might put you into contact with the kind of people who don’t want or like the gov’ment “snooping” around for one reason or another (druggies; illegal aliens; criminals of any sort). Does the position come with training in dealing with those situations? Does it include a concealed weapons permit and firearm safety training? I’m curious – how many census workers nationwide last year were assaulted? Killed?
Very few census takers were killed last year, as the official census takes place every ten years. In2010 there was even a census taker killed by the home owners pack of dogs.
Hmm…Let’s see. The meaning of ‘enumerate’ is to ‘count’. Not collect information on citizens. We are not “druggies, Illegal aliens ( can’t ask that anyway ) or criminals” of any sort.
We have not played this game since 1980 and thus have saved the taxpayer thousands of pissed away dollars during that time.
Two adults live here, one male, and one female, thus we have been ‘enumerated’. Anything else is just being .Gov nosy.
So I hope John P that you are not turned loose on the public with your ‘Concealed Weapons Permit” so you can express your outrage at some citizens refusal to answer your dumb ass questions.
How dangerous the job is is often up to the individual census taker. In the apartment management business, I’ve encountered courteous census takers and the interactions were professional. I’ve also encountered pompous, arrogant, ID-waving census takers who threatened me for not doing their job for them by calling residents or divulging info of residents. I always backed those low-IQ individuals down.
If one has decent people skills, the job should not be dangerous. If you go up to people’s doors and demand answers so you can complete your little form, you’re needlessly making the job dangerous for yourself.
Mongoose is correct. The census is only a head count for the purpose of representation. There is no need to know how many toilets anybody has or any other info.
How dangerous the job is isn’t necessarily up to the census taker. I agree that a polite, respectful approach will get you further. But the biggest difference is how dangerous the neighborhood is, and the attitude of the person answering the door. The person who answered the door (who didn’t return the census) is more threatening than the average census taker who is just doing their job, and trying to make a little extra money on the side. Hopefully census takers are screened well.
Decent people skills means nothing if someone wants to do you harm because you’re on their doorstep, and asking questions that they don’t want to answer. Get real.
I was looking that up.In 2010 they had 113 census workers attacked in one month,and one man died when dogs attacked him.Not a safe job in any way..
Spencer Williams,22 died after being shot dropping off a co worker.Williams,a crew leader responsible for a group of census takers who are doing follow up to visits to homes of people that did not mail in their questionnaire 6-14-10 Washington Post.
One census taker hung himself and tried to make it look like a murder by scrawling “feds” on his chest.William Sparkman Jr did this so his family could collect his life insurance.
Couldn’t pay me enough to take on that job. The idiots out there would say Trump is behind this. They would shoot on site.
Works out for the best, don’t need to count the illegals anyway.
It is a dangerous job!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx-vpRilh70
That was hilarious 😂
It’s hard to say how dangerous it is. You never know why they didn’t complete the census. Nor would I want to knock on their door and find out. Even if it isn’t dangerous (depending on the area) it would still be aggravating. I would have to be pretty desperate for money to take on this p/t “job.”
I used to work in property (home) inspection – throughout Contra Costa County// I worked in “loss mitigation” (fyi insurance companies now use satelight imagery to do this) I checked 4 exterior hazards, (slip and trip, breed of dogs, condition of roof – etc) // Just knocking on doors //(I had guns pulled on me, police called, chased by dogs) – this was AFTER contacting “homeowners” (and renters) – and setting up appointments! Wealthy entitled neighborhoods – have the meanest and most dangerous residents – (lower income neighborhoods are actually safer) // I pity anyone desperate enough to take these jobs –
The pleasantries of the job would depend entirely on what area you were assigned to visit. If you got Orinda, Moraga, or Lafayette, or even parts of Walnut Creek, it might be just peachy. Those folks are pretty cooperative and friendly with little to hide. At least that was my experience. On the other hand, Richmond, Antioch, Pittsburg, Bay Point, East Oakland, for example, would be a different story … if they even bothered to answer the door. I was told they immediately think you’re the social worker. With experience as an insurance investigator, I can tell you that some people will rail at you for even asking.
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