Last summer, 71-year-old Charles Kolb walked the streets of Chicago’s Northwest Side armed with a map and a mission: to verify the thousands of addresses listed in the loose leaf binder he was carrying as an enumerator for the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
“I canvassed the area I was assigned to block by block, house by house,” Kolb said. “My first day in the field, I covered four to five blocks that had several courtyard buildings, so I had 500 or more contacts for the eight-hour day. If I saw an address that wasn’t on the list, I added it to the canvass book. If I found an address that was no longer there, I marked it off. And where I saw a single house converted to a two-apartment building, I added the basement or 1/2 designation. If I didn’t do that, people in the (new) apartments might not be counted.”
It may not sound like a glamorous job. But without Kolb and others like him, many of the Census 2000 questionnaires scheduled to be mailed to every household in America in March would not reach their destination.
And Kolb knows how important it is for every citizen to be counted. The census, which takes place every 10 years, affects representation in Congress. “If (an area’s) population drops, it could lose a seat in Congress. And that in turn affects the amount of money returned (from the government) to the state and the city,” said Kolb. “Without people working in the field, we couldn’t accomplish anything.”
Kolb, who now works as a recruitment clerk, answering phones and setting up appointments for prospective census workers, jumped at the chance to be part of Census 2000. “I’m retired, but every once in a while I decide to get back in the labor force,” he said.
For Kolb and others seeking temporary employment, Census 2000 provides a once-in-a-decade opportunity–one that pays $7.50 to $18.00 an hour and offers the chance to help others, too.
The U.S. Bureau of the Census is still looking for people to fill some 15,000 job openings in the metropolitan Chicago area alone to help conduct Census 2000, according to Richard Townsend, recruitment manager for the Chicago Regional Census Center. The bureau currently is accepting applications from all over the Chicagoland area and will continue to recruit until the census ends.
“We’re hiring field workers for the a.m. and p.m. shifts. And though they’re all temporary jobs, there are full-time and part-time spots available,” Townsend said. “The hours can very because we’ll need people who are available evenings and weekends.
“We’re mailing the questionnaires to every household in America in mid-March, and the project is scheduled to go for six weeks. But I don’t want to predict (exactly when it will finish),” he added.
Positions are available for recruiting clerks and assistants, enumerators, crew leaders, and field operations supervisors. Recruiting clerks, whose pay ranges from $7.50 to $11.25 an hour, set up appointments for prospective employees. Recruiting assistants, who earn between $11.50 and $16.50, promote the census and administer pre-employment tests. Enumerators, who earn between $10 and $15 an hour, help verify addresses and go from house to house to collect questionnaires from people who don’t return them by mail. Crew leaders, whose hourly wage ranges from $11.25 to $16.50, supervise enumerators, oversee work done in the field and report to field operations supervisors who earn $13 to $18 an hour.
Pay varies by locations, said Townsend. For example, enumerators in Chicago make $15 an hour, while those in Downstate Marion get $10. Employees also get paid for the three-day training session they’re required to complete once they’re hired, and receive 32.5 cents per mile mileage reimbursement for any on-the-job travel, Townsend said.
Census workers come from all walks of life and include retirees like Kolb, students, teachers, stay-at-home moms, and people who have other jobs and want to earn extra income.
“We have a wide range of people. Since we hire from all communities, our employees come from all ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds,” Townsend said. “Whatever the area looks like, that’s what the applicant pool has to mirror.”
No previous census-taking experience is necessary to land a job with Census 2000. However, all applicants must be at least 18 years old; provide two pieces of identification; pass a written multiple choice test to measure reading, math and map-reading skills and the ability to follow instructions. Applicants also have to pass a background and reference check, Townsend said.
“Once someone does all those things and has adequate test scores, they’re put in an applicant pool as `available,’ ” Townsend said. “When work is available in a particular geographical area, we’ll call and invite the applicant to come in for a training session.”
Anyone interested in taking advantage of this once-in-a-decade opportunity can call the toll-free recruiting hotline at 1-888-325-7733. Though it is a nationwide number, it will route calls to the local census office nearest you.
