Help Wanted: Census Bureau Is Short on Temp Workers.

• Author: Zamarripa, Christi

As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. The same could be said for getting a complete and accurate census count--but the village would have to be a city the size of Atlanta. Unfortunately, the number of applicants for census jobs has been disappointing.

The U.S. Census Bureau needs around 500,000 temporary employees for the 2020 census and hopes to hire local residents to work door to door in their own neighborhoods. But it's behind on receiving applications--by about 1.7 million.

The bureau recently launched a nationwide campaign to boost lagging recruitment numbers. Why the difficulty finding workers? Several factors are believed to be at play:

* Very low unemployment rates nationwide.

* An online-only application and training program.

* A lag in receiving completed background checks.

* Uncertainty among benefit recipients as to whether their census pay will disqualify them from receiving federal assistance.

Census jobs, such as census takers, field supervisors, clerks and office supervisors, can last a few weeks to a couple of months. States can decide whether to waive, or exclude, income from these jobs when calculating Medicaid, TANF, CHIP and SNAP benefits. So far, Idaho, Massachusetts and South Dakota have done so.

A pay increase might also help in recruitment efforts. It was advised after the bureau encountered high dropout and no-show rates when it hired 32,000 temporary workers earlier this year to verify addresses. In Montana, for instance, hourly pay rates have been increased to $17 for enumerators and to $19.50 in a few hard-to-staff rural counties. Nationally, pay will range from $12 to $30 per hour depending upon the job and location.

Every 10 years, the census...