How to Help a Census 2010 Enumerator

Enumerators started knocking on doors on Saturday, May 1, 2010, in the No Response Follow-Up (NRFU) phase of Census 2010.  Their job is to help households get their information to the Census Bureau so that their information can be added to the statistics needed to meet the requirements established by the U.S. Constitution.

Personal data collected during the census is stripped from the data added to the statistics and held confidential for 72 years.  Information released to the Census Bureau is not shared with any other governmental agencies.

Households who have completed one of the questionnaires mailed to them by the Census Bureau and who have not mailed them yet can hand them to the enumerator when he or she calls.  That will speed the process and reduce the time the enumerator needs to take with the family.

The Census Bureau does not have names of people living at residences.  Questionnaires were mailed to "residents."  People who do not want to share their names can share other information and their names will not be collected.  If you are a neighbor and know that a house near you was vacant on April 1, 2010 (Census Day), please tell the enumerator in your neighborhood so that time will not be lost waiting for someone to respond from an empty house.

In some neighborhoods, 80% of the residents have responded by mail.  This probably means that the balance of households are either vacant or did not understand English.  (The questions are available in 18 languages.)

After an in-person visit to each home that needs a questionnaire follow-up, telephone interviews work to gather the information required.  While visits to homes to collect the information are budgeted to cost $57 dollars, that is much more than the enumerators make.  Enumerators are required to visit homes in person at least three times.  The quicker the enumerator can gather the information or determine that the house is vacant, the lower the cost of the in-person enumeration.

If a home needs a language other than English, they can tell the enumerator who will make a note on the questionnaire and someone will follow-up with the appropriate language.  If someone in the household (especially 15 or above) is available to translate, that works, too.

Remember, each completed questionnaire generates about $19,400 in federal funds for highways, schools, etc. within a state as well ad contributing to the number of representatives for each state in the U.S. House of Representatives.