Census Bureau seeking workers for 2020

The U.S. Census Bureau is seeking applicants for paid positions in Lorain County.

Rose Simmons, partnership coordinator for the bureau’s Philadelphia region, said the agency is hiring across the state for both field and office management positions.

The first census office is scheduled to open in January 2019 in Columbus.

In late-spring, offices will open in Cleveland, Mansfield, Dayton, Cincinnati, Akron and Toledo, Simmons said.

The field positions have a starting pay of $15.50 an hour and office management positions start at $26.50 an hour.

Simmons said the first operation the bureau will undertake in the area is address canvassing.

“We have a multi=layered approach to building our address list,” she said. “One of the various factors we use in terms of building that list is to have people go out and do a check of the addresses we have.”

Simmons said the basis of the Census Bureau’s list of addresses is the LUCA program, which stands for Local Updating of Census Addresses.

This list is a collaboration between the Census Bureau and local governments that was completed in 2017 and early 2018, which gave the local governments a chance to use their data to tell the bureau what has changed in their community, like construction or demolitions, in the past 10 years, she said.

“We know we need to have a good foundation of an address list to send out our mailings for people complete their census questionnaire, so we will hire people to go and canvas in certain areas,” Simmons said. “We want to further refine that list by sending people out, boots on the ground, to check and make sure that we have the best possible list.”

Getting a complete and accurate count of the population in the county can have a big impact going forward, she said.

“You have more than $675 billion in federal funds that are allocated annually based upon the census figures,” Simmons said. “So, every county wants to ensure that they are accurately counted.”

In addition to funding, census numbers also can impact the state’s representation in Congress.

“(Ohio) is projected by some to lose a seat in Congress,” Simmons said. “Where that seat is, we don’t know. So, all communities should ensure that they are counted so the seat won’t be in their area.

“And if everybody does that, we won’t lose a seat in Ohio possibly.”

These positions are flexible and provide good experience for people seeking to build their resumes, she said.

Those interested in working with the Census Bureau should visit 2020census. gov/jobs/ and fill out an application.

Your Social Security number, home address, email address, phone number and date and place of birth are needed to apply.