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A4   U.S. NEWS
              Wednesday 23 OctOber 2019


















            After verifying addresses, Census Bureau is hiring thousands


            By MIKE SCHNEIDER            to recruit and hire as many  Timothy  Olson,  the  agen-  ended  more  than  a  week   Phoenix. “Until it works, you
            Associated Press             as 500,000 temporary work-   cy’s  associate  director  for  ago.  Olson  called  the  ad-  don’t feel good, and I was
            ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — After  ers to help with the largest  field operations, said 32,000  dress verification process a   so relieved.”
            verifying millions of address-  head  count  in  U.S.  history  workers  verified  50  million  success.            The  agency  already  has
            es, the U.S. Census Bureau  next spring, an agency of-    addresses  over  an  almost  “It  worked,”  Olson  said   applications  from  900,000
            is  kicking  off  a  campaign  ficial said Tuesday.       two-month    period   that  at  a  news  conference  in   people  for  2020  Census
                                                                                                                                jobs, but the bureau wants
                                                                                                                                a potential pool of 2.7 mil-
                                                                                                                                lion  applicants  to  choose
                                                                                                                                from. Most of the hiring will
                                                                                                                                be done in the first quarter
                                                                                                                                of next year.
                                                                                                                                The  2020  Census  head
                                                                                                                                count  will  be  the  first  de-
                                                                                                                                cennial  census  in  which
                                                                                                                                respondents  are  encour-
                                                                                                                                aged  to  answer  questions
                                                                                                                                online,  though  they  will
                                                                                                                                also  be  able  to  answer
                                                                                                                                questions  by  telephone
                                                                                                                                and  with  mail-in  paper
                                                                                                                                questionnaires.
                                                                                                                                Most of the workers will be
                                                                                                                                used for visits to households
                                                                                                                                that  don’t  respond.  The
                                                                                                                                pay for the part-time work
                                                                                                                                will  range  from  $13.50  to
                                                                                                                                $30 an hour.
                                                                                                                                Census  officials  have  ac-
                                                                                                                                knowledged the challeng-
                                                                                                                                es of hiring in a tight labor
                                                                                                                                market and are launching
                                                                                                                                paid  advertisement  this
                                                                                                                                week to recruit applicants.
                                                                                                                                The  2020  Census  will  help
                                                                                                                                determine how many con-
                                                                                                                                gressional seats each state
                                                                                                                                gets, as well as the alloca-
                                                                                                                                tion of hundreds of billions
                                                                                                                                of dollars in federal spend-
                                                                                                                                ing.
                                                                                                                                Separately,  seven  former
                                                                                                                                Census  Bureau  directors
                                                                                                                                on Tuesday wrote an open
                                                                                                                                letter   to   congressional
                                                                                                                                leaders,  urging  them  to
                                                                                                                                fully  fund  Census  Bureau
                                                                                                                                operations as soon as pos-
                                                                                                                                sible.  Without  that  fund-
                                                                                                                                ing, they said the bureau’s
                                                                                                                                2020  Census  efforts  could
                                                                                                                                be hampered.
                                                                                                                                The letter noted that Presi-
                                                                                                                                dent Donald Trump’s 2020
                                                                                                                                request  for  $5.3  billion  in
                                                                                                                                new  funding  for  the  cen-
                                                                                                                                sus  was  below  the  House
                                                                                                                                of  Representatives’  $7.5
                                                                                                                                billion request and the Sen-
                                                                                                                                ate  Appropriations  Com-
                                                                                                                                mittee’s $6.7 billion.q
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