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Around 40,000 people across the country are estimated to be hired for the federal initiative that occurs every 10 years. Census data is used to determine the allocation of billions of dollars in federal funds to states and is used to determine how many delegates from each state are represented in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Computers will be available for people to apply directly to the U.S. Census Bureau and representatives will be on-hand to answer questions, according to Jessica Hansen, GIS planner for Greene County’s regional planning and coordinating commission. Hansen is leading the county’s Complete Count Committee, which is tasked with spreading the word of the importance of getting an accurate count.
“The major challenge we have is making sure people know the census is safe and secure,” Hansen said.
Most of the jobs available are for the census takers, who work in the more transient areas of communities and knock on doors of households where census questionnaires were not completed.
Census takers will earn $16 per hour in the Miami Valley area, but the rates are different in various parts of Ohio. Hamilton County has the highest pay rate in the state at $19 per hour, while the state’s most rural counties, such as Adams and Pike counties, have the lowest rate at $14 per hour.
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Nikol Miller, community relations manager at Greater Dayton RTA, is volunteering to lead Montgomery County’s Complete Count Committee.
Miller said subcommittees focused on education and getting various municipalities involved are starting to get active after the interruptions from the Memorial Day tornadoes and the Aug. 4 mass shooting in Dayton’s Oregon District.
“We are planning a multi-prong strategy to reach the communities,” Miller said. “Dayton is the most populous based in the county. Their dynamics are a lot different than other parts of the county, where the population is not as much, but there’s still a need for some sort of outreach.”
Miller said they are using a mapping tool called ROAM provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. The interactive online tool helps local census workers to target communities that have had a “low response score” during past censuses.
For more information or to apply online, visit census.gov/jobs.
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