By Brynna Sentel
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS—The United States Census Bureau has begun gearing up for the 2020 Census by launching a nationwide recruitment campaign to fill about 500,000 temporary jobs.
The bureau has hosted nearly 3,500 hiring events across the country in order to provide information about census jobs and to answer any questions applicants may have. The positions include recruiting assistants, office staff or supervisory staff need to be filled.
In order to be eligible for a census job, 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 selective service system, or have a qualifying exemption, be able to pass a criminal background check, and commit to complete training.
Applications can be found online and include assessment questions about education, work and other experience. Jobs, which pay from $13.50 to $30 an hour, depending on location, will begin in the spring of 2020.
The selection process begins in January, with paid training occurring in March and April. Actual counting of those who did not return their questionnaires begins in May and continues through early July.
These jobs aren’t the only measure the bureau is taking to ensure a complete count on April 1. Information has been sent out to help census takers know who they need to count.
In the simplest form, census takers should count anyone who lives in and regularly sleeps in their home as of April 1, 2020.
All children should be counted in the home they are living in or will be living in, including newborns still in the hospital. This also includes foster children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, children of friends or anyone who lives in the residence at the time of the survey.
Brynna Sentel is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
