The U.S. Census Bureau plans to hire 1,000 people in southern Missouri early next year to begin the process of counting the state’s population.
The government agency is now accepting applications, said Dennis Johnson, regional director of the Census Bureau’s Kansas City regional office.
“We’re kicking off the 2010 Census. It’s up and running,” Johnson said.
At the Springfield office, they’re hiring people to begin the canvassing process and recruit more workers for the heavy lifting in 2010, when short-form surveys will be delivered to each home in the state.
By 2010, the number of workers counting people in the southern half of the state will grow to 3,000, said Johnson, who oversees Census operations in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota and Oklahoma.
The 19-county territory for the Springfield office – located at 431 S. Jefferson, Suite 132, in the Wilhoit Plaza building – has been reduced from the 2000 Census because of the population growth in southwest Missouri, Johnson said.
Already there are six full-time assistant managers in place and dozens of new computers set up in the downtown office to begin the population count, officials said.
To speed up the process, Johnson said the Census Bureau will not make citizens fill out the onerous long form.
The survey will be a short, 10-question form, asking basic household questions like their name, age, race, relationship with other occupants and whether they own or rent their home.
Other questions inquiring about specific demographics like income and education level have been relegated to the Census Bureau’s annual American Communities Survey, which uses a random sample.
State and federal officials say the 2010 Census will be especially vital in determining a shakeup of congressional seats.
Missouri is widely expected to lose a seat in Congress because of the population boom in the southwest and southern states.
“It’s not that Missouri is losing population, it’s that it’s not growing as fast as states in other parts of the country,” Johnson said.
At stake for state and local governments is $300 billion in federal tax dollars that get redistributed by Congress based on census figures.
“So it becomes very important to have accurate counts for each community so that that community gets their share of that $300 billion dollars,” he said.
Businesses also use census numbers to determine if a community can support their product or service, Johnson said.
Across the country, it takes about $14 billion during 10 years to conduct the census, he said.
For more information about U.S. Census Bureau jobs across southern Missouri, call 866-861-2010 or go to www. 2010CensusJobs.gov.