By Matt Roy
Twitter: @AzNewsmedia

The U.S. Census Bureau seeks to hire a half-million temporary employees by March.

That was the news agency officials shared Tuesday at the 2020 Census Recruitment Campaign Kickoff Event hosted at the U.S. Census Bureau National Processing Center Paper Data Capture Center in Phoenix.

The press conference, broadcast nationally live on Facebook, detailed to agency’s efforts ahead of the 2020 count.

Michael Cook, chief public information officer for the U.S. Census Bureau welcomed the panelist and attendees.

“We’re thrilled to be here on our peak recruiting campaign for next year. We’re excited to inform you a bit on our census operations and, specifically, census jobs, which are very important,” Mr. Cook said.

Debbie Johnson, director of the Arizona Office of Tourism and chairwoman of the Arizona State Complete Count Committee, explained the importance of getting an accurate count, especially in fast-growing states like Arizona.

“Arizona has seen significant growth over the last 10 years and we’re bound for more growth. The 2020 Census is our opportunity to ensure that Arizona resources are distributed in a fair way that we can preserve the outstanding quality of life that we have in Arizona.”

The population in Arizona, according to the 2010, was 6.4 million; the estimate as of 2018 was nearly 7.2 million.

Timothy Olson, associate director of field operations for the bureau, said his agency is already of the game for the coming count.

“On October 11th at 4:23 p.m. Eastern Time, we successfully completed the entire in-field address canvassing field operation on time, ahead of schedule and under budget. And I want to thank everybody at the Census Bureau for making that happen.”

He said the agency’s first major field operation ahead of the 2020 Census was completed by 32,000 new hires from every county in the nation working over an 8 to 10-week period, who investigated and validated addresses in more than 1.1 million census blocks.

The workers reviewed more than 50 million addresses in person during the effort, Mr. Olson said.

“As our first major field operation, it worked,” he said. “All of our systems we spent a decade building, they worked. The training program, it worked. The payroll system, it worked.”

The agency now shifts its sights to the actual 2020 Census, with a first step of hiring up to a half-million temporary field agents.

“We are now embarking on a pretty big thing starting this week,” Mr. Olson said. “We have a goal of generating 2.7 million job applicants throughout the nation. And from those 2.7 million applicants, we will be able to select, hire, train and put into the field approximately 500,000 temporary census employees.”

The agency has already received 900,000 applications for the temporary positions, which range in pay from $13.50 up $30 an hour. Their website has a tool, which lists the pay ranges for every county in the country.

In Maricopa County, the pay rate will range from $15.50 to $19.50 per hour; the pay rate in Manhattan, which lies in New York County, by comparison, is $25 per hour.

The bureau will begin hiring supervisors in January and then census takers in February and March. To meet those deadlines, applicants need to apply sooner than later, Mr. Olson said.

“We want to have enough applicants in the pool that we can effectively hire those 500,000 people who will work in every neighborhood, every county, every tract, every location throughout the United States following up on households that have not self-responded,” he said. “So, it’s very important that people consider applying right now. It’s not too early, but it’s not too late.”

Census takers will work 20 to 25 hours per week during the evening and on weekends on a self-determined schedule.

Candidates with bilingual skills are a high priority for the agency; about 20% of those who have already applied are bilingual, representing more than 400 languages and dialects, Mr. Olson said.

Dana Marie Kennedy, state director of AARP Arizona, said many area seniors may take an interest in these temporary, part-time jobs.

“Historically, we know that older workers have filled about half of these positions,” Ms. Kennedy said. “Older workers tend to be reliable, dependable and they know their communities best. The bring with them years of experience getting the job done.”

To qualify, applicants must:

• Be at least 18 years old
• Have a valid social security number
• Be a U.S. citizen
• Have a valid email address
• Be registered with the Selected Service System (or have a qualifying exemption) if born before Dec. 31, 1959
• Pass a background check with fingerprinting
• Commit to complete training
• Be available to work flexible hours, including evenings and weekends
• And complete an application and assessment

Most jobs require access to vehicle and drivers license, as well as a computer with internet access and email account.

Online applications take about 30 minutes to complete. Learn more at 2020Census.gov/jobs.