Census Daze

It's been many days since my last posting.  Blame it on "Census Daze."  I'm working with the Census 2010 in a variety of ways and am learning lots and lots about the census.

I've shared some about it on this blog.  Details of the census are protected by a lifetime privacy agreement I committed to when becoming a census employee.

Here I can say that the No Response Follow-Up phase of the census (the most traditional phase with people with questionnaires showing up at a home) is a 24/7 operation.  "Door-knocking" is usually from 8AM to 8PM and the rest is processing of the information gathered by the enumerators ("door knockers", census takers).

I've met lots of people from all walks of life, ethnic groups, and education levels both in the ranks of census workers and at the homes whose doors I have knocked on.

The process is rooted in the U.S. Constitution--where the job of Enumerator is listed along with President and Vice-President.  Congress was involved in accepting the questions being asked by the census.

I'm bringing to bear many of the business skills I use in my consulting and teaching practice in the day-to-day-operations of my work with the Census and, while it is a temporary job with a modest pay scale, the work is helping me pay my bills while the work I do helps the government have the information to make informed decisions about how to distribute tax monies for the next ten years.

All in all it's very good experience.  Sometimes my hours are strange and I haven't had the extra energy for this blog for a while.  More later.

Back to Census Daze.

United States Census 2010

For Monday, April 6, 2010
Article 1 of the United States Constitution (Legislative) states, in part, "Section 2: 2.3 Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers . . . ."  "The actual Enumeration (counting) shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct." 

Section 2 of the 14th Amendment and the 15th Amendment to the Constitution indicate who shall be counted: "

The 2010 Census is the 23rd census of the United States of America.  The first census was conducted in 1780, according to the constitution, and a new census has been conducted every ten years thereafter.  The information collected in the census varies and the data collected is confidential (regarding tying information to people who provided it).  Summary data is used to determine representation of each state in the House of Representatives and to determine the distribution of Federal taxes to states based on a "per capita" (head count) quota.