Watchdog: Census lacks door knockers needed for count

ORLANDO, FLA. — The U.S. Census Bureau is short by more than 25% of the door knockers needed for the 2020 census, according to its watchdog agency, and it’s about to let go of its least productive census takers.

Both developments highlight persistent questions about whether the bureau has enough manpower to get a complete and accurate head count under an accelerated time frame preferred by the Trump administration. Bureau officials, though, say they are pleased with the progress made by census takers and are on pace to finish the job.

The Office of Inspector General’s alert this week says it’s concerned about the bureau’s ability to hire and retain workers, with six weeks left in the count that helps determine the distribution of $1.5 trillion in federal spending and how many congressional seats and Electoral College votes each state gets.

The bureau needed more than 300,000 census takers by the end of August but by mid-month, just 220,000 census takers were trained and ready to start knocking on the doors of households that haven’t yet responded to the census. Thirty-seven of the nation’s 248 census offices aren’t even halfway toward reaching their hiring goals, the office said.

“Without taking timely action, the bureau is at risk of not conducting a complete and accurate 2020 Census,” the memorandum from the Office of Inspector General said.

The bureau acknowledges that more than a third of people hired to be census takers aren’t showing up for either training or their assignments.

Despite the greater-than-expected attrition, the bureau said it has increased productivity while aggressively training new workers to fill the slots of no-shows.

The statistical agency is still recruiting and hiring census takers to fill the jobs of people who have dropped out over coronavirus fears or other concerns, and it’s giving cash awards to the most experienced census takers.

Census takers have been given face masks and hand sanitizers, and they’re instructed to maintain at least six feet of distance while asking households in-person questions about their race, sex, Hispanic origin and relationships to each other.

“Our census takers are working more hours and completing more cases than we had planned,” the bureau said in statement.

The census taker shortfall is coming as the bureau’s operational plan calls for it to let go of less productive door knockers and transfer their caseloads to higher performers so that the most experienced census takers can work on the hardest-toreach households.

The low-performing census takers will stop working before the census ends on Sept. 30.