Coronavirus could be bad news for the 2020 census
Government finds it hard to hire enough workers
WASHINGTON – The lines were about 50 deep at the census job fair U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford hosted recently in his Nevada district.
In St. Louis, about 125 job seekers, including retirees, showed up last month for the recruitment fair Rep. Lacy Clay of Missouri held at a historically black college.
Dozens filled out applications to be a census worker in Selma, Alabama, where U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell set up job stations at a community college.
“Every one of us has been doing our best to try to make sure that people know that these opportunities are out there,’’ said Horsford, who heads the Congressional Black Caucus’ Census Task Force.
Census bureau officials aim to hire 500,000 workers by late May to help knock on doors and reach millions of Americans who haven’t filled out the 2020 census, a survey that determines how much federal funding local communities receive and how many seats they have in the House.
But with much of the nation on shutdown to ward off the spread of the coronavirus, federal officials and community groups are canceling census job fairs and other in-person Instead, they are turning to social media to urge job seekers to stay home and apply online. Some lawmakers and civil rights leaders warn that might not be enough, however, and millions of Americans could go uncounted if the government is unable to hire the staff it needs.
The Census Bureau announced Wednesday it was suspending its field operations until April 1 because of the outbreak. Officials didn’t explain what the suspension would look like.
Derrick Johnson, president of the national NAACP, said he’s concerned the Trump administration’s slow response to the pandemic could hurt communities of color, who already are undercounted.
“It is impacting all of our governing functions, including the census,’’ he said. “We are in a very gray area, so we don’t know what to expect.”
An army of census takers is expected to knock on doors across the U.S. from May to July to get people who didn’t respond to fill out the survey. Job candidates can apply online for the positions through the end of May.
Federal officials said the newly hired workers will now be trained virtually and will be told to minimize contact when they go door to door. In addition to electronic tablets to record the number of people in households, they will be equipped with hand sanitizer.
Meanwhile, census officials are ramping up their campaign to get people to respond to the decennial headcount well in advance so fewer workers have to be sent to households. The census began mailing notices to households last week asking residents to respond by mail, phone or online.
“It has never been easier to respond on your own, whether online, over the phone or by mail – all without having to meet a census taker,’’ Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement.
Rushing to hire census workers in time
For months, the Census Bureau has teamed with community groups, civil
rights organizations and even congressional lawmakers for its national job recruitment effort.
Sewell, a Democrat from Alabama, worked with census officials to host two job fairs last month in her district and had planned to do two more this month. Her office had also partnered with the local sheriff ’s department to offer onsite finger printing - a job requirement.
“We’re trying to make it easy, to simplify the hiring,’’ said Sewell, adding that it’s important in hard-to-count areas that “the people who are knocking on these doors are from those communities.”
But the job fair planned for Birmingham this month has been canceled, and instead Sewell is focusing on dealing with the coronavirus in her state.
Horsford said job recruitment was a top issue when he met earlier this month with Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham. He said the agency hopes to hire as many as 10,000 people in Nevada, including 5,000 workers in his district. Horsford’s district is home to communities that have historically been undercounted, including Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and African Americans.
“Making sure that every one of our communities receive the outreach necessary has been a big priority for us,’’ he said.
Census officials aim to hire locals in part because they know the neighborhoods and when they knock on doors there’s a chance the person may know the worker, said Michael Cook, a spokesman. He said that’s better than someone “swooping” into the community and asking for information.
Coronavirus could scare off potential census workers
But the unprecedented challenge of stopping the spread of the coronavirus could now make it harder for the federal government to hire census workers. Some candidates might be turned off by potentially exposing themselves to risk.
The Census Bureau may also lose out on workers who don’t have child care options, said Michael Hicks, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University. Millions of students are at home because of the coronavirus. He said some who might have applied for those jobs may have schoolchildren.
“Now they’re a ton of families that no longer have the options of working because they’re home with kids,’’ Hicks said. “A lot of that casual employment options are going to go away.”
And during an outbreak, he said, “some people are going to be less excited about going to door to door.’’
Adam Matza of Asheville, North Carolina, said he got a call Tuesday from a census recruiter discussing a job that paid $19 an hour. Matza had filled out an application online last November so he said he was surprised to get the call.
It’s when he asked about the protocol to protect workers against the coronavirus that really shocked him.
“I asked what about the safety of folks like me who come to work for you, not to mention the public, and they had no answer for that,” Matza said. “They said they’re operating as though there’s no virus ...That’s not really good enough for me. The irresponsibility in that is just astounding.”
Dems concerned about workers’ safety, available internet
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., who serves on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, said she has raised concerns about the safety of census workers. Harris is also worried that without enough census workers, communities of color may be undercounted again.
Sewell, the Alabama congresswoman, said she’s also concerned about the reliance on the internet for job applications and responses from households. Many communities in Sewell’s district are rural and don’t have broadband.
“That’s a barrier if you don’t have access to internet,” she said.