[CTPP] census 2000 bulletin

********** C E N S U S 2 0 0 0 B U L L E T I N ********** Vol. 2 - No. 37 Aug. 5, 1998 About 15,000 temporary workers, armed with clipboards, lists and small-area maps, headed late last week into the remoter parts of the countryside where dwellings do not have city-style house-number and street-name addresses. Their job: to verify the accuracy and currency of the Census Bureau's address information. It was the first major Census 2000-related operation visible to the general public in communities across the country. The preparations will culminate on Census Day, April 1, 2000. The address-listing operation is crucial to an accurate and complete census since the resulting master address list will be used for delivering questionnaires, following up with nonrespondents and as the universe from which to draw representative samples. The operation covering "non-city-style" address areas will be conducted in three waves, generally working from north to south, although the first wave will take place, to some extent, in all 12 of the Census Bureau's regions. The first wave, with "listers" working out of 82 census field offices, will extend to Sept. 11. The second wave, in which 199 field offices will participate, runs from Oct. 8 through Nov. 19. The third wave, involving the remaining 120 offices, is scheduled to take place from Nov. 9 through Dec. 18. By the time the non-city-style address-listing operation is completed, some 30,000 temporary workers will have been employed. Later, other address listers will do similar checking in urban and suburban areas where housing units have city-style addresses. The current corps of address "listers" worked in two-person teams, driving down country roads and dirt paths to obtain complete and accurate addresses for every habitable dwelling and then, "spotting" them on local-area maps. In many cases, address listers interviewed residents to determine the most accurate addresses for cabins, trailers, converted barns, packing houses, boxcars, even caves. In agricultural areas, they visited farms, fields and orchards in search of migrant workers' living quarters. News coverage in sparsely-settled eastern San Diego County, Calif., helped listers working those areas. According to Census Bureau area manager Julie Ly, several listers were greeted warmly by residents, who offered to help them locate sheds and mobile homes being used as housing that could not have been spotted from the roads. The residents heard about the address-listing operation on local radio stations. Two of the oldest applicants for the address-lister job were an 84-year-old woman from New Hampshire, who asked the recruiter, "I think I'm young enough to do this job, don't you, dear?" and an 82-year-old in Douglas County, S.D., near Sioux Falls. Both women were veterans of past censuses, the South Dakota woman starting in 1950. The address-listing job is open to retired people, most current federal government employees, students, people who want to work a second job -- in short, anyone 18 or over who passes the written test and has four to five hours available during the day or evenings and on weekends. Since they generally must be familiar with the areas on their maps, most end up working close to their homes. U.S. citizenship is required, except where specific language needs exist and a qualified U.S. citizen is not available. Address listers also must have a driver's license and reliable transportation. In Spanish-speaking areas, the Census Bureau has tried to hire bilingual people who can communicate with local residents. For further information about this bulletin, contact J. Paul Wyatt of the Public Information Office on 301-457-3052 (fax: 301-457-3670; e-mail: pio(a)census.gov).