Up to 2000 workers necessary says County Judge Ramrez
By David A. Diaz - Legislative Media
Area residents who qualify to serve as census workers in the coming days weeks and months will help shape a brighter future for South Texas and leave a legacy that will significantly improve education health care transportation economic development and commerce in the Rio Grande Valley says Hidalgo County Judge Ren A. Ramrez.
Once every 10 years local residents who work for the Census have the opportunity to directly improve the quality of life for all of us in the Valley because every person they count for the Census means more money comes down from Washington D.C. for every federal program that helps us in South Texas said Ramrez. Local census workers are tremendously important for all of our futures.
The U.S. Census counts every resident in the United States and is required by the Constitution to take place every 10 years according to the federal government.
The 2010 Census will help communities receive more than $400 billion in federal funds each year plus the data collected by the census also help determine the number of seats every state has in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Two regional offices one in Edinburg and one in La Feria are in charge of coordinating the Census in the Valley. Each of those offices is trying to hire up to 2000 workers apiece to do the advance and follow-up work of counting as much of the Valleys population as possible.
Census is a big big deal
Jobs are still available for interested Valley residents says Ramrez who believes the roles that will be played by local Census employees will have more of an impact this year than any political leader.
The Census is a big big deal for South Texas and the people who will lead and be part of local census staffs literally have our best-interests in their hands the county judge said. I strongly encourage people who have the desire to help their fellow residents and who have the time to serve to apply for these positions. They are going to be heroes for South Texas.
So far the two Valley Census Bureau offices have hired about 30 percent of their targeted labor force which will include census takers also known as enumerators census crew leaders recruiting assistants and census clerks according to Efrn Salinas who serves as a spokesperson for the Census Bureaus Dallas Regional Office.
These jobs which will last between five and 10 weeks pay from $8 to $24 per hour plus mileage for census takers who work in the field and there are plenty of jobs we want to fill said Salinas. We still have some office positions available but the majority of the work will be done later in the spring when we need to follow up on households which did not return the Census questionnaire.
Available jobs duties
Details about the jobs the application process and testing sites for qualify for those Census jobs are available toll-free at 1-866-861-2010 for the hearing-impaired at 1-800-877-8339 or by logging on to
www.2010CensusJobs.gov.
A description of the major duties for these jobs follows:
- Census Taker (also known as an enumerator). A census taker locates households conducts interviews with respondents explains the purpose of the census records responses on paper and meets with crew leaders every day to turn in completed work and payroll forms and to discuss their progress;
- Census Crew Leader. Crew leaders train supervise and review the work of census takers on their teams;
- Census Crew Leader Assistant. Assistant crew leaders help crew leaders and perform some of the same work as census takers;
- Recruiting Assistant. Recruiting assistants serve as local representatives who get the word out about census jobs in communities to which they are assigned including running applicant employment testing sessions; and
- Census Clerk. Census clerks perform a variety of office duties that support field activities.
According to the Census Bureau the following timeline is in place:
- During March Census forms will be mailed or delivered to households according to the Census Bureau.
- From April to July Census takers will visit households to did not return a form by mail.
- In December by law the Census Bureau will deliver population information to the President for apportionment.
Political impact
The fundamental reason for conducting the decennial census of the United States is to apportion the members of the House of Representatives among the 50 states. A states resident population consists of those persons usually resident in that state (where they live and sleep most of the time).
A states apportionment population is the sum of its resident population and a count of overseas U.S. military and federal civilian employees (and their dependents living with them) allocated to the state as reported by the employing federal agencies.
By March 2011 the Census Bureau will complete the delivery of redistricting data to states. The redistricting data will influence how many congressional seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives and what the boundaries are of these congressional districts.
The redistricting data also will shape the boundaries of all state representative and state senate legislative districts in Texas.
Legislative Media reports on major legislation that affects South Texans.
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